lianscis in ^rg|ttfit Jfiftu-(!Ei§|i. 



KANSAS 



-f^ 



SnRTYfirr5> 



EIGHtW^L^imr-EIGHT 



BEING CHIEFLY 



A HISTOHY 



RECENT TROUBLES IN THE TERRITORY. 



BY WILLIAM P. TOMLINSON. 



"Kansas, sir,- is the Cinderalla of the American family. She is buffeted; 
she is insulted ; she is smitten and disgraced ; she is turned out of the dwelling, 
and the door locked against her. There is always, however, a fairy that takes 
care of the youuger daughter, if she be the most honest, the most virtuous, the 
and the most enduring of the domestic household." 

Speech op Wm. H. Sewakd in the U. S. Senate, 1858. 



H. DAYTON, PUBLISHER 

INDIANAPOLIS, IND.: DAYTON & ASHER. 

1859. 



4^^^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 
H. DAYTON, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



J. J. Reed, Printer &. STEREOxypER, 
43 &. 45 Centre Street. 



TO 

REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER, 

THE 

UN'WAVERING FKIEND OP KANSAS, 
THIS VOLUME 

3s licspcctfttUj] JD^buatct), 

BY 
THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



The pages which follow are simply a record of events 
occurring in the experience of one who has been the eye 
and ear witness of the greater part of the incidents nar- 
rated in this book. 

My object in writing it was two-fold. I felt it a duty 
I owed the struggling freemen of Kansas, to disabuse as 
much as possible the public mind of its many erroneous 
impressions regarding the recent difficulties in Kansas, 
commonly known as the " Fort Scott Difficulties ;" and I 
also wished to preserve the prominent events relating 
thereto, in the hope that they might be of some assistance 
to the future historian of Kansas, in giving a permanence 
to its history and a " deathless fame " to the noble 
champions of freedom on its soil. 

I have therefore been studiously careful that nothing 
should appear unsupported by truth, and have even soft- 
ened the tone of many passages for fear their honest 
warmth of expression would be attributed to the bias of 
partisan feeling. 



Preface. 



As apart from its eventful history, considerable interest 
is manifested in Kansas, I have devoted a portion of the 
foUowiiig work to giving such description of its climate, 
soil, etc., as I thought would be of benefit to those who 
meditate emigrating to that Territory. 

Portions of the contents appeared as letters in various 
journals from time to time, as the events to which they 
referred transpired, and the indulgence shown to some of 
them by the " Press," encourages the writer to hope that 
the following work will receive a candid consideration 
from those whose province it is to direct the public taste. 

New York, Dec. 21, 1858. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

13 

UP THE MISSOURI, - " " " 



CHAPTEK II. 

28 

A NIGHT WITH THE DELAWARES, - 



CHAPTER III. 

39 

LAWRENCE, 



CHAPTER IV. 

48 

THE JOURNEY SOUTH, - - " " 



CHAPTER V. 

fil 

THE MARAIS DES CYGNES MASSACRE, 



CHAPTER VI. 

77 

THE MARCH ON WEST POINT, - - - " 



CHAPTER VII. 

87 

THE BURIAL OF STILLWELL, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

- - 95 

FORT HAMILTON, - " " " 

CHAPTER IX. 

- 109 

A NIGHT ON MINE CREEK, 



xii Contents. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE POLITICAL CONVENTION, 120 

CHAPTER XL 

THE MAECU ON FORT SCOTT, 139 

CHAPTER XII. 

CAPT. JAMES MONTGOMERY, 163 

CHAPTER XIII. 
THE ATTACK ON FORT SCOTT, 205 

CHAPTER XIV. 
A TRIP TO WEST POINT, 220 

CHAPTER XV. 
THE VISIT OF GOV. DENVER, 228 

CHAPTER XVI. 
A HORSE-BACK RIDE OVER THE BORDER, 245 

CHAPTER XVII. 
PEACE ESTABLISHED, 259 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

CLOSING REMARKS, --_--• - - - 297 



KANSAS IN 1858. 



CHAPTER I. 

UP THE MISSOURI. 

" We cross the prairies as of old 

Our fathers crossed the sea, 
To maJje the West, as they the East, 

The abode of the free."— Whittier. 

The spring of the present year, 1858, was a busy 
season in tlie city of St. Louis. The interest felt by 
the North in the struggle for freedom going on in 
Kansas exhibited. itself in the throngs of emigrants 
that were daily arriving at St. Louis, en route for 
that Territory. Many of these emigrants were persons 
of wealth and standing, who, for the sake of principle, 
had left comfortable homes in the East. In addition 
to this, owing to the war with Utah, which was just 
commencing, there was an unusual number of traders 
in the city, making ready their wagons and outfits for 
Santa Fe and Utah. The hotels were crowded with 
inmates, and steamboats of the largest class were 



14 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

daily leaving the levee, and passing up the Missouri, 
loaded down with freight and passengers. 

In one of these steamers, the Polar Star, I left St. 
Louis on the morning of the 29th of April, 1858, with 
the intention of making a few months' sojourn in the 
Territory of Kansas. The boat was loaded down to 
her utmost capacity ; and even when running at 
moderate speed, the water broke incessantly over her 
guards. Her freight was of that nondescript charac- 
ter, indispensable to the prairies, but of an order al- 
most unknown east of the Mississippi. On her hur- 
ricane deck were a large number of baggage- wagons, 
belonging to the United States, in which were piled 
saddles, harness, camping furniture, &c., in indescriba- 
ble confusion ; and in the hold, besides the usual 
variety of a traders' and emigrants' outfit, were a large 
number of mules and horses belonging to a regiment 
of the United States troops destined for Fort Leaven- 
worth. 

The passengers on board the Polar Star were as 
motley composed as her freight. Her steerage was 
crowded with United States troops, emigrants, moun- 
tain men, negroes, &c. ; and the cabin was filled with 
officers of the army, Santa Fe traders, gamblers, specu- 
lators, and adventurers of various descriptions, with a 
few ladies, chiefly the wives of the ofiicers connected 
with the expedition destined for Utah. 



Up the Ilissouri. 15 



It was nearly night when w^e entered the mouth of 
the Missouri, so slow was our progress against the 
rapid current of the Mississippi, and so frequent our 
stoppages at the various landings along the river, to 
take in wood, freight, &c. The difference between 
the clear waters of the Mississippi and the turbid cur- 
rent of the Missouri, was plainly distinguishable for 
some time before approaching the junction of the 
mighty rivers ; and the passengers of the Polar Star, 
as in duty bound by immemorial custom, thronged to 
the guards to behold the strange phenomenon, and 
repeat hacknied sayings concerning the wedlock of the 
two great currents. The characteristics of the Mis- 
souri are peculiar to itself alone. It is constantly 
changing its course ; wearing away its banks on one 
side and forming new ones on the other, and thus its 
channel is continually shifting. Islands are annually 
formed and washed away, and while the forests on 
one shore are being undermined and swept ofiP, a new 
growth of trees spring up on the made-soil of the 
other. Towns built near the banks of the river not 
unfrequently share the same fate, and have to be 
either moved back or abandoned. In consequence of 
these changes, the water is so charged with earthy 
matter that it is quite opaque, and a few minutes' 
rest deposites an inch of sediment on the bottom of a 



16 Kansas in EigTiteen Fifty-Eight. 

Day after day our "boat struggled upwards against 
the swift and turbid current of the Missouri ; now 
grating upon some concealed snag, and now hanging 
for hours at a time upon some treacherous sand-bar 
of too recent a formation for the knowledge of the 
pilot. Day after day was spread out before the pas- 
sengers the same unvarying picture of Nature's loveli- 
ness. The broad and turbid river, with its sand-bars 
and its eddies ; its ragged islands and wild, forest- 
covered shores, were the chief components of the 
landscapes presented ; for although the adventurous 
pioneers are fast opening the way for the " march of 
civilization westward," and towns occasionally dot the 
river's margin ; the great leading characteristic of the 
Missouri is isolated grandeur and solitude. 

The passengers of the Polar Star amused them- 
selves, each to his taste, throughout the long passage. 
The calm, quiet Kansas settler might be seen on the 
upper-deck, or in some secluded part of the steamer, 
poring, perchace, over some map of the territory he 
sought to visit, or musing on friends " eastward afar." 
The officers over their " cigarettes" fought their past 
"battles o'er again," or discoursed on the probable 
dangers of the distant campaign they were shortly to 
commence ; — the accomplished gamester and his con- 
federates nightly sought to lure the ignorant and un- 
wary to loss and ruin ; — and the strong men of the 



Up the Missouri. 17 



mountains, pent in their close quarters below, cleaned 
and repolished their trusty fire-arms, and cracking 
their rude jokes, rejoiced at eveiy mile which bore 
them further from civilization. 

The morning of the ninth day, (May 7th,) we ar- 
rived at Kansas City, at which place I intended stop- 
ping for a few days previous to proceeding into the 
Territory. The boat lay at the levee nearly all day 
discharging her freight, the greater portion of which 
was shipped to Kansas City. I changed my luggage 
to the nearest hotel — the " American House " — and 
was in a few minutes ready to acquaint myself with 
the chief characteristics of the place. 

Kansas City is situated in the western part of the 
State of Missouri, on the south bank of the Missouri 
river, about two miles from the line between the State 
of Missouri and Kansas Territory. It is built on 
a high bluff, which rises abruptly from the river. At 
first view it does not impress the beholder very favor- 
ably, but a more intimate acquaintance greatly exalts 
it in his estimation. It is a new town, having been 
built within a few years. Its great source of pros- 
perity is the Santa Fe trade ; nearly all of which is 
carried on through Kansas City, its nearest point on 
the Missouri river. So immense in fact is this trade, 
and so rapid is the growth of the city, that although 
at that time it possessed only some four or five thou- 



18 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight 

sand inliabitants, some of its sagacious, far-seeing 
citizens, were indulging in dreams of its becoming a 
great metropolis, and had already lain out on paj)er a 
town- site sufficient to contain several hundred thou- 
sand inhabitants. One-third of the whole Missouri 
river trade at that time was done through Kansas 
City, and the city and inland trade was rapidly in- 
creasing. Speculation ran very high ; building lots 
were selling at almost fabulous prices, and wages for 
all kinds of mechanics and laborers were fifty per cent, 
higher than in the East. 

Such was Kansas City in the spring of 1858 ! The 
change wrought by the summer following was veiy great. 
If the state of Missouit succeeds in throwing ofip the in- 
cubus, slavery, which has so long fettered her upward 
progress, no seer or prophet, howsoever gifted, can 
foretell the brilliant destiny that awaits Kansas City. 

The next day I took a walk out to Westport, and 
proceeded from thence to the j)lains of Kansas Terri- 
tory, where the Santa Fe trains were encamped in 
" corrals" (1) on the prairies. I went out the Santa Fe 
road to Westport, and then followed the old California 
road until I came to where the "corrals" dotted the 
prairies set apart by the United States government, 
for the special benefit of the Santa Fe and Oregon 
trains. It was a beautiful view ; — the great prairie, 
over whose rolling swells, covered with waving grass, 



Up the Missouri. 19 



and variegated with a profusion of beautiful flowers, 
the herds of a hundred " corrals" were grazing or lay- 
ing idly on the velvety sward ; while on eveiy emi- 
nence was the picturesque "corral" of the trader, from 
which would momentarily dart some Mexican, Indian, 
or half-breed, mounted on pony or mustang, to visit 
some neighboring encampment. The trains of the 
Santa Fe traders encamp on this reservation, while the 
head-merchants go on to Kansas City or St. Louis, 
and make their purchases. The cattle, which gene- 
rally get quite thin from their long journey, have thus 
an excellent opportunity to rest and pick up in flesh 
before starting back across the plains. 

I have seen a great deal of countiy — mountain, 
forest, and prairie — but my eyes never rested on a 
finer scene than I beheld that May morning. It is a 
misnomer to call it a " new country" — for those vast, 
undulating plains, glowing with the richly-colored 
flowers indigenous to them, and the beautiful groves 
of trees that skirt the depressions and relieve the 
abrupt lines of the horizon, present a landscape more 
beautiful than the oldest civilization with its cultiva- 
ted fields, parks, and woodlands. The view at once 
awakens in imagination the romance of oriental lands, 
and palm trees, groves of oranges, pomegranate, and 
fig, and the aroma of spices become at once almost 
palpable to the senses. Then the vast herds of cat- 



20 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

tie, feeding far and near over the prairie ; the white 
tents and wagons of the emigrant, and far-traveled 
Santa Fe trains, with the dusky Mexican teamsters, 
require but a small stretch of the imagination to be 
transformed into the caravans of Bagdad, and the 
Moslem merchants of the East, in their traverse of 
pastoral lands of Palestine and the plains of Arabia. 

I approached one of the " corrals" to have some 
conversation with those in charge, relative to the pe- 
culiar life they were leading. The Spaniards gazed 
stupidly at me from beneath their broad hats, but 
the train-master proved to be an American, disposed 
and able to acquaint me with all I wished to learn. 
He was apparently about forty years of age, of power- 
ful build, with a clear blue eye, and an honest, open 
face ; a fair sample of that hardy race of pioneers, 
who, with their axes and their rifles, are opening the 
way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He told me 
that he had led a frontier life from boyhood, and that 
the last eight or ten of it had been spent in California, 
to which place he was now returning from a visit to 
a brother living near Independence, having connected 
himself with a Santa Fe train for greater safety, and 
to defray expenses. 

In my return I called at the Shawnee Mission, 
which was originally established to educate the Shaw- 
nee Indians, and which, after flourishing for some 



Up tJie Missouri. 21 



time, is now rapidly going to decay. It is the oldest 
mission in the Territory, and is of the Methodist 
Church South, The buildings are of brick, and are 
massive and extensive, but very tasteless in appear- 
ance. Connected with the mission are three sections 
of the finest quality of land, which were donated by 
the Shawnees at the time of its establishment. It 
was the residence of Gov. Shannon, while he was in 
office, and has always figured prominently in Kansas 
history. I was shown over the school by the obliging 
teacher, and a great deal of curious information im- 
parted me concerning the Indian character. The 
school had then only about twenty pupils ; but when 
it was in a flourishing condition it numbered over 
sixty. One little Shawnee came up to recite his les- 
son while I was there, and it was interesting to hear 

his broken English. Mr. , the teacher, states 

that they learn readily, and as a general thing are 
quite docile. 

In my route I also called on Capt. Park, the cele- 
brated chief of the Shawnee nation, with whom I be- 
came acquainted at Washington. He resides about 
three miles from Westport, in Johnson Co., K. T., on 
a splendid farm of two thousand acres : the greater 
part of which is under cultivation. Contrary to my 
expectation, he recognized me almost immediately, 
and invited me into his house, which is a large, brick 



22 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

structure, furnislied in the most comfortable and even 
elegant manner. He lias a large family of children 
and grand-children around him ; two of his grand- 
children are ladies grown, handsome and accomplished. 
The old chief is a great talker, and while dinner was 
preparing, he fought his " past battles o'er again,'' 
in many a wild and thrilling narrative. Some of his 
narratives were highly interesting, showing as they 
did, the great injustice practiced by the agents of our 
government against his people. He speaks good Eng- 
lish, having been employed for many years as '^ inter- 
preter" between the Shawnee nation and the " Great 
Father" at Washington. A great public misfortune 
will befall the Shawnee nation when they lose their 
loved chief, for he has their welfare at heart, and his 
influence over them is almost unlimited. He takes 
great interest in farming, and has all the new im- 
provements in the way of implements, &c. He values 
his farm at fifty dollars per "acre. It is certainly a 
splendid property. He still owns a few slaves, but 
says he wants Kansas to become a free State. After 
spending a couple of hours with him and family very 
pleasantly, I returned to Westport. 

While sauntering around that town with all the 
nonchalance a wanderer from the " Yankee land" is 
bound to assume upon all occasions, I could not avoid 
contrasting the quiet, inoffensive VvT'estport of 1858, 



Up the Missouri. 23 



with the belligerant Westport of 1856, when H. C. 
Pate raised that gallant band of volunteers, and stimu- 
lated by the smiles of the Westport dames and their 
presented banner, vowed he would never again enter 
the town of Westport until he brought back that 

d d abolitionist Brown and his troop. How he 

proceeded in the execution of his doughty threat — how 
he met the little band of Brown, and how that same 
Brown, though fighting against a force numerically 
three times superior to his own, forced the gallant 
Pate to an ignominious surrender, and then paraded 
him through the territory — are facts known to every 
reader of Kansas history, and need not be repeated. 
Pate was still living in Westport, but his paper had 
gone down and his whilom glory departed. A grand- 
son of the celebrated Daniel Boone was living in 
Westport at that time. Two years ago no one sus- 
pected of being "Free State," could have entered 
Westport without being lynched, or at least driven 
out of the town ; but at the time I was there, not 
only was freedom of speech tolerated, but a large pro- 
portion of the citizens were " Free State" in politics. 

The next day, Sabbath, I attended Methodist church 
in the forenoon, and in the afternoon, accompanied 
by a friend, I took a walk to visit the grave of a rela- 
tive, who died in Kansas City, in the spring of 1855, 
while on his' way to Kansas. He contracted that 



24 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

fatal disease, the cholera, while on board the boat, 
and died in a few hours after being carried into the 
" American House." Some kind friends took charge 
of his remains, and had them interred in the common 
burying-ground, located a short distance from the city. 
There is a plain tomb-stone erected over his grave, 
telling his name, age, &c., by which it is distinguished 
from the grass-covered mounds scattered thick and 
wide around it. 

I cannot describe my feelings while standing over 
the untimely grave of him whose roughly-chiseled 
initials on the cold marble told the colder form that 
lay below. All that I knew of his early career open- 
ing full of promise — of his calm, determined stand for 
the right, unshaken by clamor, and incorruptible ; of 
his well-attested benevolence to the poor and needy, 
and his general intercourse with all mankind, rushed 
with startling vividness across my mind in one resist- 
less torrent of recollection ; and when the friend at 
my side, who had been his friend, told me how he 
found him when sent for to visit his dying-bed ; how 
he closed his stranger eyes, and laid him in his stranger 
grave with the sorrow of a brother, I could not repress 
the tears that fell, and were drank up by the prairie 
flowers that grew in wild luxuriance about his prairie 
grave. One of the fairest I unearthed from its birth- 
place, and with reverence I placed it on the spot where 



Up the Missouri. 25 



I deemed reposed his once gallant breast, and slowly 
and solemnly left the grave of poor P . 

The next morning I took passage for Leavenworth 
City in the steamer Kate Howard, a boat of the same 
class as the Polar Star, but superior in some respects. 
Among the notables on board were Gen. Harney and 
suite, en route for Salt Lake via Fort Leavenworth. 
The General is .tall and commanding in person, a 
splendid specimen of our American soldiery, and seve- 
ral of the suite were fine looking men. Every atten- 
tion was paid the General while on board ; a special 
suite of rooms was assigned him and suite ; the head 
of the table given him, &c. 

The traveler up the Missouri now sees between the 
City of Kansas and Fort Leavenworth, quite a number 
of flourishing towns upon the south-west bank of the 
river, where but a few years since not the slightest 
improvement of any kind had been made. Wyan- 
dotte, and Quindaro especially, are flourishing places, 
and offer great inducements to settlers of enterprise. 
The river was quite high when I went up, but when 
I came down in the autumn it was unusually low, and 
all the secrets of its treacherous shallows were ex- 
posed to view. It was frightful to behold the trees 
and various obstructions, thick set along the channel 
as a military abattis, firmly imbedded in the sand at 
the bottom, ready to impale any unfortunate steam- 



26 Kansas in Eighteen FifUj-Eight, 

boat that at high water should pass over that danger- 
ous ground. 

The Kate Howard touched at the levee of Leaven- 
worth City about noon, and I went ashore. I sj)ent 
the afternoon of that day in rambling about the place, 
endeavoring to form a correct idea of its present and 
future prospects. 

Leavenworth City, the present metropolis of Kan- 
sas, at that time boasted a population of U2:)wards of 
eight thousand. It was consequently about twice the 
size of Kansas City, but its river trade would bear no 
comparison to that of its rivals'. The town is plea- 
santly located on the west bank of the Missouri, on a 
bluff which rises less abru]3tly from the river than at 
Kansas City. The houses are chiefly frame, and of 
cheap construction. At that time there were three 
weekly and two daily papers ; two theatres, six or 
seven churches, &c. Speculation was running very 
high, and building lots were selling at the most ex- 
travagant prices. 

The next day I went u]3 to the Fort to witness a 
grand review of the troops before General Harney. 
Fort Leavenworth, in point of fact, can lay but little 
claim to the title of fort, as it is without defensive 
works of any kind, except two block-houses. In 
beauty of location, however, it has scarcely an equal 
in my knowledge. It is situated two miles above the 



Up tlie Missouri. 27 



town of Leavenworth, near the west bank of the Mis- 
souri, on a gentle eminence commanding a splendid 
view of miles and miles of the lordly river. 

In the square, grassy area surrounded by the bar- 
racks and quarters of the officers, the various regi- 
ments and divisions were being mustered under their 
proper officers^ preparatory to the grand parade. It 
was a splendid sight to see the well- drilled and well- 
equipped soldiery going through all the minutia and 
formula of a regular review, and the pleasure in gaz- 
ing on the pageant was only lessened by the reflection 
that of the many now gaily stepping to the enlivening 
strains of music, how few would in all probability re- 
turn from the far-distant campaign they were shortly 
to commence ; in which burning suns and disease 
would doubtless prove far more deadly foes than the 
" Saints" led on to battle by Brigham Young. 



28 Ka?isas in Eigldeen Fiftij-Eigld. 



CHAPTEK II. 

A NIGHT WITH THE DELAWARES. 

" A nobler race ! but they are gone, 
"With their old forests, wide and deep, .. 

And we have built our homes upon 
Fields where their generations sleep." — Bryant. 

Early the next morning, May 12tli, I made arrange- 
ments for my departure for Lawrence. My heavy 
luggage I ordered to be sent after me in the stage- 
coach which was to leave for Lawrence the next day, 
as I designed commencing at Leavenworth my original 
plan of travel ; which was, viz : to behold a great 
portion of the Territory on foot, in order that I might 
become thoroughly acquainted with the country, and 
its inhabitants. 

So making up a small knapsack of eatables and ar- 
ticles that I might need in my journey, and freshly 
loading my revolver, (nay, start not friends of mine 
imbued with peace principles, that same pocket-com- 
panion has been of service to me, and yet the stain of 
blood rests not upon my soul as I trust it never may,) 



A Night ivith the Delaivares. 29 

Heft the streets of the town, and struck the road lead- 
ing out into the Territory, just as the first rays of the 
rising sun gilded the broad crest of the Pilot-Knob 
mountain, on whose broad summit repose the earthly 
remains of some of the earliest Kansas martyrs. 

The sun shone clear and brilliantly, the air was 
fresh and bracing, and my olden love for the health- 
ful exercise revived within me as I walked briskly for- 
ward over a prairie as beautiful as the most beautiful 
portions of Illinois, or Iowa. In some places, in con- 
sequence of a heavy rain a few days previous, the 
footing was poor, but for the most ]3art the walking 
was excellent. The Delaware Keserve embraces most 
of the land lying between Leavenworth and Lawrence, 
and the country in consequence was but thinly settled. 
Game of all kind was abundant. Every few yards 
my steps would give fright to a covy of pheasants, or 
prairie chickens, which would rise, wheel, and disap- 
pear in the air ; and turkey and deer were not an un- 
common sight. The foot-prints of the prairie-wolf 
and other animals could be seen along the path- way, 
and once I got a shot at a large prairie-wolf, but it 
w^as too far from me for the ball to take effect. 

About noon I arrived at the Big-Stranger Creek, 
where the coach changes horses, and a dinner is pro- 
vided for the passengers. It is a wild, lonesome look- 
ing place, particularly in the vicinage of the stream, 



30 Kansas hi Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

which runs between steep banks, dark, sullen and 
rapid. The Half-way house, so called from its being 
about half-way between the Kaw and Missouri rivers, 
is a villainous-looking, rum-drinking, and half-breed 
establishment ; almost totally destitute of the most 
common requirements of the travelers. While there 
the coach from Lawrence to Leavenworth came driv- 
ing up without any passengers, the Jehu being alone 
in his glory. I asked him if there was any difficulty 
in keeping the road from there to Lawrence — ^lie said 
there would not be if I would be careful to follow the 
track of the coach, which was a broad- wheeled vehicle 
making a plain trail. 

T left the Big-Stranger about 1 p. m., and 2)roceed- 
ed onward until I came to a mound known as the 
"Stranger's Grave," which is close to the way-side 
some three or four miles from the Half-way house. It 
is marked by a rude pile of stones, placed there by 
some friendly hand to keep the wolves from disturb- 
ing his remains. He was murdered in 1856, by a rov- 
ing guerilla party of Missourians. This poor victim 
of border-ruffian cruelty was a stranger in the Terri- 
tory, and was on his way to Lawrence at the time of 
the terrible tragedy. He was left weltering in his 
blood by these inhuman fiends, until some settlers 
riding by, shocked at the bloody spectacle presented, 
hastened to give his lifeless remains inteiment. Nor 



A Night loith the Delawares. 31 

is the case I have cited an isolated one ! The travel- 
er in the Territory of Kansas sees many such rude 
memorials, reminding him in all save scenery of the 
moving lines of " Childe-Harold :" — 

"And here and there, as up the crags you spring, 

Mark many rude-carved crosses near the path, 
Yet deem not these devotions offermgs — 

These are memorials frail of murderous wrath, 

For wheresoe'er the shrinking victim hath 
Poured forth his blood beneath the assassin's knife. 

Some friendly hand erects a cross of mouldering lath. 
And grove and glen with thousands such are rife 
Throughout this goodly land where law secures not hfe." 

It seemed ^ad to think of his untimely end, stranger 
as he was to me, and reflect that perhaps " loved 
ones afar " were still ignorant of his terrible fate ; and 
were "hoping still against hope " to receive some tid- 
ings of their absent one. Some day, when Kansas, 
freed from outward persecution, is able to make repara- 
tion for the past, she may erect over her martyred son 
a more fitting monument. And imtil then the tears 
of every pious way-farer will water the prairie flowers 
that adorn and beautify his nameless grave. 

After leaving the " Stranger's- Grave," it was with 
the greatest difficulty that I could keep the desired 
path. The marks of the w heels of the coach were no 
longer visible on the baked earth, which had grown 
too hard for -the indentation of the wheels to be 



32 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

distinguishable. Territorial roads crossed and re- 
crossed the one I was traveling in all directions ; and 
the trail itself wound around ravines, and over mounds 
in such a serpentine manner, that it was often a mere 
matter of guess-work which of two alluring trails to 
take. Still I struggled on, guided by my pocket-com- 
pass, as I knew I wished to pursue a south course, and 
just before night I saw to the southward a long, dense 
body of timber, which I knew at a glance could be no 
other than the woodland that skirted the winding Kaw. 

My spirits revived at the welcome sight, and I strode 
onward with even a more hurried step ; but I had yet 
to learn how deceiving was the distance at which ob- 
jects appeared to be when viewed on the broad open 
prairie ; and although the timber in question, to my 
unpracticed eyes, appeared but a mile or so distant, 
an hour's rapid walking still left the woodland at ap- 
parently as great a distance. 

Night set in gloomily. Not a star could be seen in 
the concave of heaven, save when the dense clouds 
that stretched pall-like across the sky, would for a 
moment break away and reveal them to sight, ere 
they closed, wrapping all nature in deeper obscurity. 
Guided by the last lingerings of twilight I gained the 
timber, but the river was still to reach, and that, ow- 
inc: to the extent and width of the woodland, I was 
well aware would be the most difficult part of all. — 



A Night luitli the Delaiuares. 33 

Still I did not despair. I knew that if I could only 
strike a trail leading to the Kaw, I could easily find 
the ferry, after once gaining the banks of the river, 
and I set myself diligently to work to find the desired 
trail. 

After searching for some time I discovered a path, 
and immediately commenced threading its labyrinths. 
It had the appearance of being some traveled, and I 
congratulated myself on its leading me eventually to 
the ferry at Lawrence. The only thing that gave me 
any uneasiness was the length of the path I was thread- 
ing. I knew that the timber was only a few miles in 
width, and I had already journeyed, as I thought, far 
enough to have come to the river-border. The path 
too, instead of becoming more beaten, as it naturally 
would leading to a town, sensibly narrowed, and be- 
came more and more difficult to keep. Finally it ap- 
parently came to an end altogether, and I was left 
in the forest without any clue by which I might ex- 
tricate myself from the labyrinth in which I was in- 
volved ; and was just preparing to submit myself to 
the unpleasant idea of spending a night in the woods, 
when I fancied I heard the faint sounds of distant 
music. 

I rose from the foot of a huge sycamore, where I 
had from fatigue thrown myself, and listened eagerly 
for a repetition of the sound. It soon came. I could 



34 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight. 

not distinguish the character of the music, but clear- 
ly and distinctly on the ear fell sounds of a human 
origin. I did not pause to solve the doubt, but thrust- 
ing aside the branches and underwood that impeded 
my steps, I hastened forward in the direction of the 
sounds, that as I advanced grew more audible. Far 
ahead through a vista of trees, twinkled at times a 
light ; now visible, and now disappearing. Nearer 
and nearer I drew to what appeared some scene of 
merriment, and louder grew the sounds of various mu- 
sical instruments ; and ruddier towards the heavens 
the fire, I at first beheld so faintly, shot its upward 
glow. Pushing aside the few remaining obstacles in 
my way, I stepped quickly forward, and the whole 
spectacle was revealed to my astonished view. 

Gracious Heaven ! I was in the Delaware villas^e, 
and gazing on an Indian war-dance ! When I first 
comprehended the peculiar position to say the least in 
which I was placed, my instantaneously conceived 
idea was to draw back, and retrace my steps, and pass 
the night as I had meditated doing ; but I saw in a 
moment that I was perceived, and that if my strange 
companions were disposed to prove unfriendly, any 
attempt that I might make to escape would prove 
futile. 

I therefore walked up to the fire with as unconcerned 
an air as I could assume, and stood with my blanket 



A Night luith the Delaivares. 35 

folded around me, awaiting the action of my red- 
friends on this unceremonious intrusion on their fes- 
tival. I did not wait long. An old man, one of the 
Chiefs of the Delawares, approached me, and in bro- 
ken English inquired of me where I came from, where 
I was going, &c. I explained to liim my benighted 
condition, and when I inquired of him how far I was 
from Lawrence, a smile stole over his bronzed features 
as he replied, counting his fingers : — 

" One — two — three — four — five — six miles long, but 
you stranger ; you no go to-night ; stay with Indian ; 
to-morrow me show you how to go — J' 

The dancing which had ceased for a moment while 
the old Chief was addressing me, again commenced, 
and from that moment they were apparently oblivious 
of my presence. I stepped backward to the outer- 
edge of the opening, in order that I might observe 
them without interfering in any way with the proceed- 
ings. As some of my readers may feel an interest in 
the description of a dance among the sons and daugh- 
ters of the forest, I will devote a few words to sketch- 
ing the scene I beheld. 

Imagine a large opening in the forest, in the centre 
of which is a huge fire, around which are a number of 
seats for the old and musicians of the tribe. Beyond 
the fire, and comprising a circuit of some twenty or 
thirty yards, is a ring or circle ; hard-beaten as an 



36 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

oaken floor, and some ten or a dozen feet in width. 
Around and around this circle would pass the maid- 
ens and braves of the tribe, beating a sort of time to 
the music, which consisted of bones, hard pieces of 
wood, tin instruments, &c. ; united with the deep, 
gutteral voices of the musicians, about as follows : — 

" He-ah-hum-he-hum-hah, he-he-hum-haw-hum, 
He-ah-haw-haw-lie-ah, Le-ah-hum-hum-mah, 
He-ah-liee-hee-eah, he-haw-hum-hee-hee-ah," 

with a number of variations. 

The cause of the present dance, as I learned from 
the old Chief who first addressed me, was the fittinc: 
out of a party from their tribe, who were to leave the 
next morning on a hunting and war-like expedition 
to the western part of the Territory. It is a singular 
fact in history, that the Delawares, though once the 
peaceful allies of Wm. Penn, have been the most ad- 
venturous and dreaded warriors that have roved the 
western prairies. They have made war upon remote 
tribes of Indians whose very names were unknown to 
their Fathers in Pennsylvania, for no other object than 
plunder ; and have even sent out war-parties as far 
west as Oregon, and the Kocky Mountains. They 
have consequently declined in numbers every year; 
while Home of the nei^-hborinoj tribes who have turned 
their attention to husbandry, &c., have increased, 
rather than diminished in population. 



A Night with the Delawares, 37 

For hours I stood in the position I have described, 
and gazed on that strange forest scene. The Indian 
maidens with their fanciful adornments of beads and 
head-dresses ; and the young Delawares tall and 
stately, with their all-manner of decorations, as they 
moved, now slow, now fast around the fire-lit circle, 
were components of a picture on which I could 
scarcely weary of gazing. When, however, the fires 
burned low, and the dancers sank exhausted with in- 
cessant action, I threw myself upon the couch of 
skins prepared for me in the hut of my Indian friend, 
and slept soundly until morning. 

Long before I awoke in the morning, the hunting 
party had departed on their long journey, and, after 
partaking of some coarse corn cake and smoked ven- 
ison, I left the Delaware village, accompanied by the 
old Chief alluded to, who did not leave me until he 
put me on the stage-road to Lawrence. His knowl- 
edge of English was tolerably good, and the time 
passed very pleasantly in conversation on subjects with 
which he was familiar. He spoke feelingly of the de- 
cline of his people, who now only number some two 
or three hundred of the tribe proper. Of the vast 
hunting grounds once possessed by the Delawares, 
there is now remaining only two hundred acres for 
each man, woman and child of the nation. Our route 
lay through a dense forest the chief part of the dis- 



38 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

tance, of which the black- walnut, the oak, the syca- 
more, and cotton- wood were the chief varieties of trees 
growing. The black walnut frequently attains a great 
size in Kansas, and is found in all parts of the Ter- 
ritory. When we separated, I slipped a four-bladed 
pocket-knife in his hand, as a parting present, with 
which he seemed greatly pleased. I shortly after ar- 
rived at the ferry, which is of rope construction, the 
current propelling the boat across the stream ; and 
hailing the idle Charon on the opposite shore, I was 
soon over, and treading the streets of Lawrence. 



Lawrence. 39 



CHAPTER III. 

LAWRENCE. 

" 'Mid strife, tumult and danger, 

And half a nation's swm ; 
Pride of our north-land freemen — 

0, Lawrence, thou wert bom!"— Anonymous. 

Where the prairie first touches the south bank of 
the river, as you go up the winding Kaw, some forty- 
miles from its mouth, stands the town of Lawrence. 
In a direct course four miles south of Lawrence, flows 
the Wakarusa, which empties into the Kansas river, 
six miles below the town. Immediately behind Law- 
rence, about a half mile from the river, a bold hill, or 
prairie promontory, rises abruptly to an altitude of , 
upwards of a hundred feet. This is the noted Mount 
Oread. 

Lawrence was first settled in July, 1854, by a 
company of Eastern emigrants, about thirty in num- 
ber, under the guidance of Charles Branscomb. In 
two or three weeks more, they were joined by a still 
larger company of emigrants under the command of 



40 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

Dr. Charles Kobinson. When the first company pro- 
ceeded to lay out the sight for their town, they found 
that several Missourians laid claim to the spot. One 
of these had erected a small shanty of logs to hold his 
" claim/' and was living in Missouri. The settlers 
finally succeeded in buying out all who appeared to 
have any feasible claim to the site of their town. 
Such was the commencement of Lawrence ! And 
when one takes into consideration the difficulties its 
citizens have had to surmount, the hardships they 
have undergone, the sieges and pillages to which they 
have been time and again subjected ; the reflection 
must inevitably force inself on his mind, that it has 
been especially favored by Providence in its struggles 
for freedom, and for existence. 

The present population of Lawrence is estimated at 
about three thousand. At that time it had two weekly 
papers, two banking establishments, five or six hotels, 
as many churches, a large number of stores, &c. The 
enterprising stage and hotel proprietors, the brothers 
Eldrige, were just completing their mammoth hotel, 
built on the site of the old Free State Hotel, that was 
sacked and destroyed the 21st of May, 1856. It is 
said to be the largest building west of -St. Louis, and 
its entire cost to approximate seventy-five thousand. 
The Eldnge Brothers are men of great energy and 
enterprise, and have done more to build up the terri- 



Lawrence. 41 



tory than any other men in it. Owing to the pressure 
of the " times'' there was not so much doing in the 
wa}^ of improvements as at a similar period of the 
year previous. 

The evening of my arrival I called on Wm. Phillips, 
the special correspondent of the New York Tribune, 
to whom I had a letter of introduction. He resides 
in a small cottage near the Kansas river, and just on 
the outskirts of the town. He was not at home, as I 
was in hopes he would have been. The disappoint- 
ment was the keener as he had only left that morning, 
and if I had been one clay sooner I might have had 
the pleasure of grasping the hand of one of Kansas' 
truest heroes. He had gone to the northern part of 
the territory on business connected with the approach- 
ing election, and would not return for several days. 

His wife, a young and handsome woman, of ap- 
parently eight-and-twenty, received me very politely 
on learning the object of my visit, and during the 
agreeable hour I spent there, communicated to me 
much that was new and interesting concerning the 
past history of Lawrence. She is like her husband, 
enthusiastically " Free State" in politics, and her ex- 
pressive eyes sparkled while she dwelt on the indigni- 
ties which she and others had sustained from the 
hands of the border-rufl&ans, who were for a time the 
actual possessors of Lawrence. In answer to my 



42 Kansas in Eigliteeii FifUj-Eight. 



query whether she did not feel very uneasy during the 
frequent absences of her husband, known as he was 
all over the Territory, she made the heroic reply that 
lie was hut doing his duty, and lohatevei' his fate 
might he, it ivoidd he hettci- than remaining ignohly 
at home when his country needed his services. I 
thought of that beautiful poem of Mrs. Hemans, the 
*^ Switzer's Wife," commencing — 

" The bright blood left the yoiithM mother's cheek," &c. 

And reflected to myself that little danger existed of 
enslaving Kansas, while even the refined and delicate 
of her women exhibited such Spartan courage. The 
house was small, as I have slated, but the interior was 
neat and comfortable, and the paintings by some of 
the first masters, that decorated the walls, and the 
piles of books and papers laying around the room, be- 
trayed the cultivated tastes of the ^' Tribune's corres- 
pondent." 

Tlie next morning I bent my pilgrim steps to Mt. 
Oread. The sun had been above the green slopes of 
the prairie long enough to dry the waving grass that 
covered the hill to its summit ; and an infinite variety 
of flowers and blossoms, indigenous to the prairie, gave 
color and richness to the plain and hill-side. I fol- 
lowed a winding path leading from the town to the 
summit, and in a few minutes vv^as standing on the 



Lawrence. 43 



crest of Mt. Oread. Seldom have I gazed on a fairer, 
or more glorious scene than the one presented. To 
the south and eastward was a perfectly level and 
beautiful plain, dotted over with farm-houses and 
cultivated fields to the dense belt of timber skirting 
the Wakarusa, and opening again with a similar land- 
scape beyond, until a bold, high promontory, known 
as " Timber Mound," closed the eastward view. 
Westward towards Lecompton could be seen for miles 
and miles the winding Kaw ; while northward, miles 
away, uj)wards toward the May heaven from the wil- 
derness of trees, rose the thin smoke from the village 
of the Dela wares. 

I seated myself on the shattered wall of the half- 
ruined Fort, to enjoy more fully the prospect, and 
muse at leisure over the eventful history of the town, 
whose busy streets lay stretched out below. The 
genius of the place exercised a strange influence on my 
mind. I saw no longer the smiling, fertile plain, or 
the thronged streets of the town ; but before me pass- 
ed in long review the various scenes in the past stormy 
history of Lawrence. First came the settlement by 
the little band of emigrants ; weak in number, but 
strong in hope and purpose ; and the inglorious re- 
treat of the first army of invasion that sought to 
crush out its youthful existence. Then passed before 
my gaze the hardshi[)S and sufferings of the dcvt)ted 



44 Kaiisas in Eighteen Fifhj-Eight. 

settlers during the rigorous winter of '55 ; hemmed in 
by foeS; and suffering for fuel and the most common 
necessaries of life. I saw the illy-guarded and illy- 
fortified town, through whose streets and thorough- 
fares swept the bitter, searching wind of the prairies, 
chilling the hearts of the citizen-soldiery on duty, 
and whirling hither and thither the camp-fires and 
tents of the Missouri host in the bottom of the Wa- 
karusa. Then followed the long, dim j^rocession of 
events to the period of the final assault and sack of 
the town in '5Q ; and the clan-like gathering of the 
border-rufiian hosts on Mt. Oread. Plainly before my 
eyes glided the various actors in the closing drama of 
the " Lawrence Tragedy," and so vividly was it all 
depicted : the march and attack of the ill-fated town ; 
the mobbing and destroying of the " press ;" the firing 
of Gov. Kobinson's house and the Free State Hotel, 
and the indiscriminate pillage that followed ; that I 
involuntarily started as though expecting to behold 
the quiet, sylvan scene transformed by the genius of 
my musings into one of strife and warfare. 

That evening I had an opportunity of beholding 
some of the prominent " Free State" men of Lawrence. 
An impromptu meeting was convened in front of the 
^^ Eastern House," and addressed by Conway, That- 
cher, &c. M. F. Conway, or the " Young Man Elo- 
quent," to use the sobriquet usually applied to him 



Lawrence. 45 



in Lawrence, is a slender, scholarly-looking personage, 
of apparently two or three and thirty, with long-flow- 
ing hair, and light blue eyes. He is a pleasant, fluent 
speaker, rising at times to eloquence, and is very 
popular in Lawrence. Thatcher, one of the editors 
of the Lawrence Republican, is also of the ^^ Young 
America" order, a graduate of one of the western col- 
leges, and a staunch and thorough-going republican. 
His style of speaking is plain and destitute of verbage, 
but practical, forcible, and convincing. Gov. Kobin- 
son was not in town. 

The next day I took a stage-coach ride up the Kaw 
to Lecompton and Topeka. They are both flourish- 
ing towns, but small compared with Lawrence. To- 
peka is about fifteen miles west of Lawrence, on the 
same side of the Kansas. The route lay for the most 
part through a fine country, and we passed many 
fields of wheat and oats, which promised a yield far in 
advance of the best lands of the north-west. DottiDg 
the prairies in all directions was to be seen the rich 
and black soil turned over to receive in its bosom the 
season's crop. I spent several hours in rambling 
around Topeka, viewing its various objects of interest, 
and returned the evening of the same day to Law- 
rence. 

The next day. Sabbath, did the citizens of Law- 
rence, by their universal observance of the " day of 



46 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

rest," strikingly remind the sojourning traveler that 
they were the descendants of the stern and rigid Puri- 
tans. Not a sign of business was any where to be 
seen. No groups were on the corners of the streets. 
When the bells ceased ringing their morning chimes, 
all were gathered to the various houses of prayer. I 
passed into the street, and entered the first temple that 
arrested my attention. The church proved to be of 
the Methodist denomination. There was a sermon in 
the sweetly-sung words of the choir, and a sermon in 
the plain, unpremeditated words of the preacher, that 
dropped like "heavenly manna" on my troubled spirit; 
although in a strange church, and ^mid the followers 
of a strange creed, I worshipped that Sabbath morning. 

In the afternoon a number of Delawares crossed the 
rope-ferry, and paraded the streets, clad in their forest 
finery. They preserved a decent respect for the day, 
and in the evening some of them attended the various 
churches of the place. 

Late in the afternoon of the next day, there came 
into the town an old settler from Bourbon Co., who 
brought the most alarming intelligence of the state 
and condition of things in the southern part of the 
Territory. Two murders had been committed on the 
Osage river in Bourbon Co., a few days previous, by 
a roving band of guerillas, who at the time he left 
were in Fort S-oott, abetted and harbored by its troops. 



Lawrence. 47 



The news created considerable excitement in Lawrence, 
as the settler was known to be a reliable man, correct 
and truthful in his statements. I saw him shortly 
after his arrival, and had considerable conversation 
with him, which decided me in the intention I had 
previously half formed in my mind, of going south 
myself, and learning the truth or falseness of the 
thousand reports going the rounds of the " press," and 
generally known and spoken of as the " Fort Scott 
difficulties." I went that evening to the office of the 
" Laiorence BepuUican" with the editors of which I 
had some business, and to whom I communicated my 
recently formed design. 

They higlily aj)proved of my intention, and I sat 
late that night in the " editors' sanctum" at Lawrence, 
gleaning all I could learn from conversation relative 
to the unsettled condition of the South, and poring 
over maps and papers of the Territory. I then went 
to the hotel where I was stopping and retired to rest, 
to be ready against the morning for a journey over the 
counties of Lykins and Ljmn, and through the land 
of the Ottaways. 



48 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-EigTit. 



CHAPTEK IV. 

THE JOURNEY SOUTH. 

"I've wandered wide and wandered far, 

But never have I met, 
In all this lovely western land, 

A spot more lo7ely yet." — Bryajjt. 

The morning of my departure from Lawrence, May 
18th, the day set for the vote on the " Leavenworth 
Constitution ;" the sun rose clear and brilliantly, 
bathing in a flood of glory the broad rolling prairies of 
contested Kansas. Early as it was in the day when 
I bade a regretful adieu to the city of Kobinson and 
Lane ; men of all races and climes, the hardy pioneers 
of Kansas, were pouring into Lawrence from the roads 
leading in all directions out into the Territory. The 
streets were thronged with wagons and passers ; the 
stores were crowded with customers, and the whole 
city wore a look highly gratifying to all acquainted 
with her early stormy history. In the May sky, fair 
and lovely, loomed Mt. Oread, and the old stone Fort 
upon its summit, whose walls had bristled often with 



The Journey South. 49 

the seried bayonet ; and whose very name is conjuror 
of a thousand historic recollections, seemed, as it re- 
flected back the bright sunbeams, to rejoice in the 
sweet reign of peace. 

I left Lawrence on foot, intending to continue my 
journey in that manner, until overtakes by the coach 
which was to leave Lawrence that morning for Osa- 
wattomie, distant some forty miles ; at which place I 
intended stopping for the night. A pleasant walk of 
less than an hour brought me to Blanton's Bridge, 
which spans the Wakarusa four miles south of Law- 
rence. It is a picturesque looking place, and in gaz- 
ing on its quiet loveliness, the traveler can with dif- 
ficulty realize how different it must all have appeared 
during the stirring scenes of the Wakarusa war. The 
bottom of the Wakarusa, on the Lawrence, or north 
side of the stream, is low and marshy, so much so that 
it is almost impassable for wagons at particular sea- 
sons of the year ; and the merchants and business men 
of Lawrence, in order to get the trade of the southern 
portion of the Territory, were agitating the formation 
of a company to construct a firm, durable road from 
the suburbs of the town to the edge of the Wakarusa. 

The south bottom of the Wakarusa is narrow, and 
needs but a little piking to make a solid road to the 
higher prairie beyond. Some miles south of the 
Wakarusa is Hickory Point, a heavy body of timber 



50 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight 

lying along the Santa Fe road. It is noted as being 
the place where the martyred Dow was shot in 18.55, 
by Coleman. He was a Free- State man, peaceful in 
disposition, and was going to a black-smith shop to 
get some work done at the time of the terrible trage- 
dy. He was entirely. unarmed, and unsuspicious of 
an attack when he met Coleman, and that wretch af- 
ter allowing him to get some twenty or thirty yards 
from him, fired, lodging the load of slugs and buck- 
shot, of a shot-gun, in the heart of the unhappy Dow. 

About noon I arrived at Prairie City, a flourishing 
village sixteen miles south of Lawrence, where I took 
dinner. The land around Prairie City is of an ex- 
cellent quality, and is mostly claimed and pre-empted. 
They were voting when I arrived. The most of the 
votes were for " Leavenworth,'' but owing to the 
absence of interest in the election, it was thought 
that the poll would be small. After dinner I resumed 
my journey, and an hour's moderate walking brought 
me to what is termed the " Eight-mile-prairie." Land 
around the Eight-mile-prairie, though chiefly taken 
up, is held at low rates, and I scarcely know a portion 
of the Territory that ofiers greater inducements to 
settlers. 

The south road, though easily distinguishable for 
the most part, is not unfrequently crossed by trails, 
paths, &c., where the greatest caution and observation 



The Journey South. 51 



is required to prevent getting astray from tlie right 
road. Towards sunset I arrived at Stanton, a small - 
village some ten miles north of Osawattomie, having 
walked since morning some thirty miles ; the most of 
the route leading me through as lovely a country as 
ever gladdened the eyes of man. At Stanton I wait- 
ed for the coach, wJiich soon came lumbering along, 
and, clambering up on the seat with the driver, was 
in a few moments once more in motion. The road was 
good, and while the lights were yet twinkling like so 
many stars from the windows of the scattering houses 
constituting the village of Osawattomie, we drove up 
to the door of its one hospitable, Free-State Hotel. 

The polls were closed, and the public room of the 
hotel was filled with talkative politicians, who were 
volubly going over the result of the election they had 
just passed through ; from which I learned as I confi- 
dently expected, that "Leavenworth" had received 
the almost unanimous vote of the freemen of Osawat- 
tomie. Supper was soon announced, and on entering 
the long dining-room, I found a meal served up in 
the true western style of lavish, luxurious hospitality. 
Meats of different kinds ; bread, hot and cold ; Indian 
cakes, sweet cakes, biscuits, stewed fruits, pre- 
serves, pies, &c. ; were piled in heterogeneous confu- 
K:ion on a rough, unclothed table, that fairly trembled 
.'ith its weic-ht. The sruests at the well-filled board 



52 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

were of a corresponding variety as regarded dress, 
business, &c. Stage-drivers, teamsters, express-agents, 
emigrants, runners for houses in Lawrence, &c., all 
met together on terms of the most perfect equality, and 
did am^^le justice to the numerous viands placed be- 
fore them. 

While at supper, I observed that a young man who 
sat opposite, occasionally glanced towards me in a 
manner that indicated my countenance was not unfa- 
miliar to him. After we retired to the public room 
of the inn again, he approached me, and informed me 
his name, olden residence, &c. He was a journeyman 

printer ; — his name was E -. V ; he had 

served his apprenticeship in D , Penn., where he 

had frequently seen me. He was at that time em- 
ployed in the office of the " Osaivattomie Herald." 
He had been absent from Pennsylvania two or three 
years, but he had not forgotten her fair valleys and 
towering mountains, and had a multitude of ques- 
tions to ask me concerning the land of his birtli. It 
was pleasant to meet an olden dweller of the vale of 
Penn., sofarfrom home, and we sat by the open hearth- 
fire until late in the night, chatting about mutual 
friends, and the happy hours spent in by-gone times 
in the " land far-away." 

The next morning, I took a stroll over the town pre- 
vious to eating breakfast. It contained some fifty or 



The Journey South. 53 

sixty honses, almost all of wliich liave been erected 
since the sack of '56. It is located abont fifty miles 
from the Missouri river, in Lykens Co., and the heart 
of a rich agricultural country. It was founded under the 
auspices of the " Emigrant Aid Society," and desj^ite 
the drawbacks it has received from Missourian inva- 
sions, it bids fair to become one of the most important 
of the inland towns of the Territory. On the out- 
skirts of the village is one of those invariable accom- 
panyments of the " Yankee Town," viz : — a steam 
saw-mill. It was already in operation, manufacturing 
the huge logs into boards and scantling for the wants 
of the town, and surrounding country. Close to the 
mill is a giant sycamore, whose trunk is bristled over 
with long pegs, to the top of the tree. I was at a 
loss at first to know the object of the pins, but the 
idea soon flashed across my mind. It was a ladder 
leading to the top of the tree, and was used as a look- 
out station at times when danger threatened Osawat- 
tomie. I ascended the ladder to the to]i, and enjoyed 
from thence a splendid viev/. 

Previous to arriving: at Osawattomie, I had thou2:ht 
that owing to the unsettled state of things southward, 
I would take the stage-coach at Osawattomie ; but 
learnino; there would be no stao;e until the second 
morning after my arrival, and finding that things 
were tolerably quiet in a political way, I thought 



54 Kansas in EigMeen Fifty-Eiglit. 

I mio^lit venture to continue still further a mode of 
travel I had proved so agreeable. So ordering my 
luggage to be forwarded to me by stage to Sugar 
Mount, distant some thirty miles, at which place I 
intended to make my first stoppage, I turned my 
back on the hospitable town, and, while the free 
prairie breezes fanned my brow, commenced my journey 
along the lonely road leading to Fort Scott. 

Lovely and more lovely grew the country as I ad- 
vanced. As by magic the seemingly interminable 
prairie constantly developed some new beauty fair to 
the eye, without a repetition, and without a same- 
ness. Flowers of all kinds and colors growing in 
prodigal luxuriance ; strawberries hanging tempting- 
ly from vines crimson with the luscious fruit, and 
beautiful blossoming trees and shrubbery, were fixed 
features in the great picture of loveliness ; around 
which clustered an ever-changing grouping of nature's 
rarest tints and colorings. It was a mild, soft spring 
day ; a day that disposes one more to revery than to 
action, and allows the softer part of his nature to gain 
the ascendency. I threw myself upon the green grass, 
and abandoned my mind for a few moments to the 
luxury of meditation. How sad, thought I, that man, 
made in the image of his Maker, the noblest of all 
created things, should ruthlessly mar his fairest works ; 
making, for the paltriest objects, this earth a theatre 



The Journey South 55 

of strife and blood. Little did I tliink I was shortly 
to hear of an atrocious massacre, committed within a 
few miles of me at the very time of my musing, which 
in extent and fiendishness, surpassed anything hither- 
to recorded in the annals of ill-fated Kansas ! — Yet 
such was the case ! 

I had wandered somewhat out of the right road in 
a south-east direction, and was just emerging from a 
strip of woodland that skirted a small stream of wa- 
ter, which a settler some distance back had informed me 
I must cross to gain the desired track, when I encoun- 
tered a squad of armed horsemen. I did not see 
them until they were within a few yards of me, in con- 
sequence of the thickness of the timber, and then the 
speed at which they were riding would have rendered 
useless any attempt at escape if such had been my in- 
tention. The leader of the troop, a tall, dark- whis- 
kered, and dark complexioned man, reining in his 
horse, rudely accosted me with : — 

" Where did you come from ?" 

Judging from their looks, manners, &c., that they 
were Missourians, I thought I might as well be pretty 
guarded in my replies to their rude interrogations, and 
so, after pausing for a moment, I answered : — 

" From the town of Lawrence." 

" D you, it takes you a long while to answer ! 

Where are you going ?" 



56 Kanshs in Eighteen Fifty -EigJit. 

The hot blood rushed to my face, but I felt the ne- 
cessity of prudence, and as quietly as possible replied : 

" To the town of Paris." 

" I guess he is all right," said one of the ruffianly 
gang, " none but friends live in Paris : let us over 
the border before the d — d abolitionists are in hot 
pursuit of our trail." 

" Not so fast. Bill, you are alvrays in a d — d hurry 
when you get a few yards into the Territory," said an- 
other of the gang, " I go in for having him searched ; 
who knows what he may have about him !" 

To this procedure some assented, and some object- 
ed, and for a moment I feared my first adventure with 
the " border-ruffians" was likely to result unpleasant- 
ly enough ; but for a reason I afterwards learned they 
were in a great haste, (2) which fact probably alone saved 
me from an examination, which, from the letters, &c., 
on my person must have inevitably resulted in making 
me appear an extremely suspicious character in the 
eyes of the Missouri gentry. I did not breathe freely, 
however, until they galloped on, which they did in a 
few minutes ; the whole interview, in fact, occupying 
less time than it takes to describe it, although the 
time seemed long during the few moments they were 
deciding on the adoption or rejection of that measure 
which if carried out, would in all probability have al- 
tered, or cut short my earthly career. My captors 



i'lie Journey South. 5? 

were eight in number, and I marked their faces welu 
Two of them I saw several weeks afterwards at Fort 
Scott, and I recognized them at a glance. I watched 
them disappear in the distance, and proceeded onward 
in the direction of Paris. 

The country was very sparsely settled, and it was 
some time before I met with any settlers, but when I 
did it was to learn that the Missourians had invaded 
the Territory, and were murdering all the Free State 
men they met in their progress. Although I did not 
credit one-half the extravagant accounts told me, I 
was satisfied that there was sufficient truth in them 
to cause me to be grateful to Divine Providence for 
the safe escape I had made from the clutches of the 
ruffians. On I pushed towards Paris, and just before 
approaching the town, I fell in with three or four 
Free State men, armed with muskets and rifles, bound 
for the town. They informed me that there had been 
a terrible massacre committed at the " Trading Post," 
a town seven or eight miles south of Paris, and that 
the settlers were collecting in Paris preparatory to 
marching to the scene of the massacre. While they 
were yet speaking, we approached an outpost of the 
mustered force ; it by this time being quite dark, and 
giving the " pass- word," we were soon walking among 
scores of Free State men, who at the first intelligence 
of " Missourian Invasion," had dropped their farming 

3* 



58 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight 

implements, and snatcliing their trusty fire-arms, had 
hurried into Paris, eager to be led against the mur- 
derers of their neighbors. 

Concerning the extent of the massacre committed, 
nothing really definite appeared to be known. Some 
said hundreds of Missouiians were in the Territory, 
and that dozens of lives had been sacrificed ; while 
others more moderate, limited the invaders to forty or 
fifty, and the killed to six or seven. The " horse," 
commanded by Brig. Gen. Daniels and Col. Mitchel, 
left shortly after my arrival in the town, for the scene 
of the tragedy ; leaving word for the " foot" to remain 
in Paris until morning, unless ordered elsewhere in 
the interim. The number of men left to guard the 
town did not greatly exceed a score ; and it, was in- 
teresting to observe the efiect of the thousand ex- 
travagant rumors, that came in the little town with 
every fresh arrival, on the different members of the 
motley company collected. The town is built in tho 
form of a square ; the scattering log and frame houses 
all looking on a large area, and in this grass-grown 
square, in front of the one hotel of the town, the little 
band of Free State men were collected in knots, lis- 
tening to the accounts of those whose knowledge of 
the massacre seemed the most correct, and adding re- 
marks parenthetically, as the narrative or their feel- 
ings dictated. There were a few among the numbei 



The Journey boutti. 59 

collected who betrayed fear at the recital of the fear- 
ful tragedy, and spoke of moving their families out of 
the Territory ; but the majority evidenced by their 
sternly-compressed lips, flashing eyes, and bold, out- 
spoken condemnation of the high-handed outrage, that 
they would shed the last drop of their blood before 
submitting to border- ruffian tyranny. 

The night grew chill as the time wore to midnight, 
and still no word came from the horsemen who left 
early in tlje evening. The general conviction was 
that they had found the '' Trading Post" deserted by 
the Missourians, and had encamped there for the night, 
leaving further proceedings for the next morning. A 
good fire was blazing on the open hearth of the public 
room of the inn, and one by one the hardy settlers, 
wearied with the day's labors, stole in from the chilly 
night, and threw themselves on the hard floor, until 
the broad square was entirely deserted of its occupants. 
I had had as yet no supper, and the pangs of hunger 
growing almost intolerable, I went into the kitchen of 
the inn, where the family had domesticated themselves 
for the night, and communicated my wants to the 
kind landlord, who immediately supplied me with a 
small roll of bread and some cold meat, which ap- 
peased the most pressing wants of nature. 

Before retiring to rest I paid a visit to the outposts, 
the sentinels of which were to be chano-ed at reojular 



\ 



60 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

intervals throughout the night. Every thing was 
quiet on the lonely prairie. The sentinels paced each 
his measured round. Away up in the azure heaven 
twinkled the stars like so many angel-eyes looking 
down on the beauteous scene which the murderous 
hand of man had marred with his brother's innocent 
blood. I returned to the head-quarters, and following 
the example of the weary men around, threw myself 
on the folds of my blanket in a comer of the room, 
trusting to the sentries pacing in sleepless vigilance 
around young Paris, and to the God above, far, far 
more watchful than ever earthly sentinel, for protec- 
tion. 



The Marais des Oygnes Massacre. 61 



CHAPTER y. 

THE MARAIS DES CYGNES MASSACRE. 

" A blu^h as of roses, 

Where rose never grew ! 
Great drops on the bunch-grass, 

But not of the dew ! 
A taint in the sweet air 

For wild bees to shun ! 
A stain that will never 

Bleach out in the sun !" — "Whittier. 

Early the next morning I succeeded in hiring a 
horse of a settler living near the town, and after eating 
a hurried breakfast, mounted my steed, and in com- 
pany with three or four armed horsemen, started for 
the scene of the massacre. The route for the greater 
part of the distance lay through a low-bottom ground, 
densely covered with timber, of which the oak, maple, 
walnut, and sycamore, were the chief varieties. The 
foliage of the forest was frequently beautiful in the 
extreme. All the trees and saplings were either in 
flower or budding into new leaf, and the crimson 
clusters of the maple-blossoms, and the gorgeous 



[)2 Kansas in Eighteen Eifty-MghU 

flowers of the wild-apple lined the way-side in prodigal 
profusion. My companions were quite talkative^ com- 
pelling me frequently to join in their miscellaneous 
discourse. In about an hour from the time we start- 
ed, we arrived at the ford of the Marais des Cygnes, 
whose swollen waters we crossed without much diffi- 
culty, and urging our jaded horses up the steep bank, 
we were in a few minutes in the ill-fated Trading 
Post. 

The town was full of armed men, preparing to march 
on West Point, a noted border town in Missouri, and 
mingling in among them I soon learned the particulars 
of the horrible tragedy of the day previous, which 
(with the information I afterwards obtained from the 
survivors of the massacre, &c.,) I will now proceed to 
give the reader. 

" Chotteau's Trading Post" is situated on the mili- 
tary road leading from Port Leavenworth to Fort 
Scott, on the south bank of the Marais des Cygnes, or 
Osage river, forty miles north of Fort Scott, and three 
or four miles from the Missouri line. It is an old 
place, having been established as a frontier post to 
trade with the Indians long before Kansas was or- 
ganized as a Territory. The buildings are chiefly 
log — long, low, and ruinous. The inhabitants, though 
generally Free State in theory, or politics, were primi- 
tive in character and habit ; remarkably quiet and 



The Marais des (Jygnes Massacre. 63 

inoffensive, and liad taken no part in the troubles of 
the Territory. From the time of the earliest settle- 
ment on the Marais des Cygnes, however, the quiet, 
peaceable squatters had some neighbors who were a 
source of great annoyance to them, who kept stealing 
their horses, ordering them from their claims, &c. 

One of the most dreaded of these men was the no- 
torious Capt. Hamilton, who resided some three or 
four miles from the Trading Post, in a strongly forti- 
fied house of hewn logs. He came into the Territory 
in ^55, from the State of Georgia, accompanied by two 
brothers of like character, and although from the first 
a violent Pro-Slavery man, and the owner of slaves, 
he succeeded by force of character and the aid of the 
pro-slavery element in the Territory, in getting elect- 
ed to various ojffices of trust during the first year or 
two of his residence. As time rolled, on and the pros- 
pects of enslaving Kansas grew daily more gloomy, 
his efforts to stay the failing fortunes of the slave- 
power in Kansas, increased to the phrenzied despera- 
tion of madness. The suavity and politeness of man- 
ners which he at first assumed in his intercourse with 
the settlers, as he saw his political power slipping 
hopelessly from his grasp, rapidly disappeared, and 
the man and the harder -ruffian stood revealed in their 
true deformity. He gathered around him a number 
of the most blood-thirsty desperadoes that could be 



64 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight, 

procured in western Missouri, or of his " ilk " in the 
Territory ; converted his log-house into a fort with 
palisades, &c., and became at once the pest and terror 
of the surrounding country. 

All last winter he carried on a systematic, predatory 
warfare, sallying out under the cover of night with 
his men, and lighting down on some lonely Free State 
settlement, where they would steal all the horses they 
could come across, and drive them into the palisades 
of Fort Hamilton, from whence — sold at a nominal 
price — they would find their way to Missouri and the 
East. Frequently during the winter he would come 
in contact with the surrounding settlers, to whom he 
was invariably arrogant and overbearing ; with one of 
them, a blacksmith, by the name of Snyder, he had a 
fierce discussion some time last April, and left him 
threate'ning his life. From that time Snyder kept a 
loaded gun constantly by him, expecting at any mo- 
ment an attack. On various occasions, when meeting 
with his neighbors at the grocery of the town, or at 
other places, he threatened that he would have their 
scalps whenever he was compelled to leave Kansas 
with his slaves — that whenever it was definitely known 
that the Lecompton Constitution had passed Congress, 
there would be bloody work in the Territory. All 
who did not go in for it would be massacred or driven 
from Kansas, &c. 



The Marais des Cygnes Massacre. Q^ 

After tlie passage of the Lecomi^ton Constitution in 
some shape was regarded as certain at Washington, 
and intelligence to that effect had been received in 
western Missouri, Hamilton spent, a great portion of 
his time in West Point and the border counties of 
Missouri, assisting to revive the secret societies that 
had gone down since '5Q, and making arrangements 
with leading citizens of Missouri for a general guerrilla 
warfare on the settlers of Kansas. 

Early in May he made a foray on the Free State 
settlements on the Osage river, stealing a number of 
horses and committing other depredations. The long- 
suffenDg and long-enduring settlers could put up with 
these raids and unprovoked outrages no longer. They 
arose en masse and ordered him in a given time to 
leave the Territory. He took his departure within 
the specified period, but was frequently in the neigh- 
borhood of the Post afterwards, spying around under 
the cover of the night, and holding secret conclaves 
in his abandoned fortress. The settlers of the Marais 
des Cygnes, mindful of his maledictions uttered dur- 
ing the spring and winter, kept up a guard for some 
time, but as no attack was made, they soon grew un- 
suspicious of danger, and suffered the little force to 
disband and leave their midst. Misplaced was their 
confidence ! Fatal the error committed ! 

On the 19th of May, the day before my arrival at 



66 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

tlie Trading Post, there was a roeeting of the leaders 
of the pro-slavery party at the house of Thomas Jack- 
son, a noted resident of Missouri ; at which there were 
numerous delegates from both Missouri and Kansas. 
A warm discussion ensued as to the best policy to 
adopt in their future invasions of the Territory. Some 
were in favor of stealing from and harassing the set- 
tlers until they would become wearied out, and for 
the sake of peace flee the Territory ; while others of 
the genuine ^^horder-riiffian" order, advocated as 
strongly an indiscriminate slaughter of the " aholition-- 
ists," until the last of the Yankee race was extermi- 
nated. 

Hamilton was in favor of the latter method, and in 
a set speech before the meeting he urged the policy of 
striking terror into the enemy by a well-directed blow 
on the Trading Post while it was unguarded, and its 
inhabitants were unsuspicious of an attack. If they 
were ever to commence (3) the system of guerrilla 
warfare, for which they had revived their secret orders, 
and by which, with the aid of the English Bill, they 
hoped to fulfill their long-desired object of securing 
Kansas to slavery, the proper time to inaugurate it 
was immediately. Every day they delayed rendered 
the task more and more herculean. Unless an excite- 
ment could be immediately engendered in the Terri- 
tory that would stop all emigration and drive out the 



The Marais des Cygnes 3Iassacre. 67 

timid of tlie settlers, to talk about getting control of 
the polls in August, sufficiently to accomplish any- 
thing thereby, was simply ridiculous. Their friends at 
Washington had labored hard to secure the passage 
of the English Bill, and expected the friends of " Le- 
compton" to do their duty, &c. 

He wound up his. remarks by calling on all who 
were for blood to follow him into the Territory. 
Twenty-five men obeyed the summons of the guerrilla 
chieftain. The names of some of the more prominent 
of the company were, viz : — Charles A. Hamilton, 
captain. Dr. John Hamilton, Alvin Hamilton, brothers, 
Luke Yealock, William Yealock, Thomas Jackson, 
Brocket, Harlin, Beach, Mattock, &c., &c. Eight 
of the twenty-five resided in Kansas and seventeen in 
Missouri. Those from Kansas chiefly resided in or 
near Fort Scott, and those from Missouri were princi- 
pally citizens in or residents near West Point. This 
place was the " Border Kuffian" head-quarters in '56, 
having a blue-lodge at that time, and being the ren- 
dezvous of Gen. Clark and the southern army of inva- 
sion. It was also the seat of the " Council of Ten," 
who in secret chamber, with power as potent and ir- 
responsible as that ever exercised by the Inquisition 
of Spain, or the secret tribunals of Westphalia, de- 
cided the fate of the prisoners' taken during that gloomy 
year. 



68 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- EigM. 

Hamilton and his guerrilla company immediately 
crossed the border, and pursuing a somewhat circuit- 
ous course, arrived at the Trading Post about one 
o'clock, p. m. It was a beautiful day, and the quiet 
that reigned around the secluded village, broken only 
by the light laugh of maidens, or the sounds of work- 
men, might well have moved ^ murderer's heart to 
pity ; but it had no eifect on the soulless ruffians who 
meditated the destruction of its inhabitants. They 
were not perceived until they emerged from the tim- 
ber, and rode up to the grocery of the village. As 
the surrounding country was perfectly quiet, and the 
villagers, unsuspicious of an attack, were all engaged 
at their various avocations, no resistance could be 
offered, and none was attempted. At the store they 
took the clerk, John F. Campbell, and Gr. W. An- 
drews, prisoners. So unsuspicious of danger was 
young Campbell, that when he saw them approaching 
the store he supposed them to be friends, and with 
the friendliness habitual to him, stepped frankly out 
to bid them welcome. He was instantly made a 
prisoner, and the store filled by the ruffians, who com- 
menced a sack of its contents, appropriating to them- 
selves whatever pleased their fancy. 

While thus engaged, a William Still well, of Sugar 
Mound, a place some ten or twelve miles distant from 
the Post, came into the village in a two-horse wagon, 



The Marais des Oygnes 3Iassacre. 69 

on his road to Kansas City. They surrounded him, 
asked him a few questions, and finding that he was 
from Sugar Mound, the residence of the noted Capt. 
Montgomery, they immediately made him a prisoner. 
They then scattered around the place, picking up all 
the Free State men they could seize in their search. 
After collecting all the prisoners together, they order- 
ed them into the wagon of the captured Stillwell, and 
started in their retreat to the border. They had pro- 
ceeded about a half-mile when they encountered a 
missionary by the name, of Rev. Charles Eeed, whom 
they ordered into the wagon, dismissing Andrews, 
from some unex23laiued causes. They then proceeded 
onward some two or three miles when they halted. 
They had by this time taken twelve |)risoners. 

These men had all been captured while engaged at 
their peaceful avocations without resistance and un- 
armed, and had never been implicated in any of the 
troubles in Kansas. They were all strictly conserva- 
tive men. 

In the interim, Hamilton had dispatched his Lieut. 
Brocket, with a small detachment of men, to capture 
the blacksmith Snyder, of whom mention was made 
in the early part of this chapter. He was at work in 
his shop with arms bared to the shoulder, when the 
ruffians rode up to the open door, and one of them 
with an oath exclaimed : — 



70 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight 



" Ha, Snyder, we have got you just where we want 
you r 

" Have you !" said the hero, snatching up his dou- 
ble-barreled shot-gun that stood by his side, and firing 
the contents of one of its biirrels into his assailants, 
slightly wounding Brocket and killing the horse un- 
der him. Then aiming the other barrel at the cow- 
ardly gang, which was thrown into confusion by the 
fall of their leader, he commenced his retreat along 
a stone wall, and almost incredible as it is, made his 
escape. 

Stung by this unexpected failure of a portion of his 
fell designs, Hamilton determined to wreak immediate 
vengeance on the inoffensive men he had captured. 

They had halted close to a deep ravine in a skirt of 
timber near Fort Hamilton. The prisoners were tak- 
en from the wagon, and ordered to form in a line five 
yards from the ruffians, who seated on their horses on 
the brow of the ravine, with their guns pointed down- 
wards, almost touching the breasts of their victims, 
waited but the word of command to speed the swift 
messengers of death which would send them to their 
final audit. How solemnly awful must have been 
their feelings to know that the next moment they 
must stand before their Maker,' without even time to 
breathe a prayer for their souls' salvation, I will leave 
the reader to judge. 



The Marias des Cygnes Uassacre. 71 

But fair as must have looked the May sun-beams 
streaming in the narrow ravine on which their eyes 
were to rest never more, and yearningly and tenderly 
as their last thoughts must have wandered to the loved 
ones of home, not a prayer or petition rose to the lips 
of one of the heroic twelve for mercy — for life from 
the hands of their cruel, blood-thirsty captors. They 
knew that suing to such men would be — 

"As the bleating 
Of the lamb to the butcher, or the cry 
Of seamen to the surge" 

And so — 

" With a vain plea for mercy 

No stout knee was crooked ; 
In the mouths of the rifles 

Right manly they looked." 

Never, never, outside of Kansas, was truer, or more 
undaunted heroism exhibited ! Search the annals of 
the world's history, from the fabled records of antiq- 
uity to the present time, 0, scholar ! and show me, 
if you can, a .spectacle wherein martyrdom for a 
princiijle is more gloriously exhibited than in the 
massacre of the Marias des Cygnes ? 

The command was given to ^' Present Arms ! Fire V 
and a score of guns (the demon Hamilton himself set- 
ting the example,) dislodged their contents of buck- 
shot and ball in that line of doomed men. Every man 
dropped to the earth. Five were killed instantly ! 



72 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

All but one of the others were badly wounded. He 
fell from prudential reasons, and being covered with 
blood from his murdered and wounded companions, 
fortunately escaped unhurt. 

" Be sure that all are dead/' said the ruffian Ham- 
ilton — " dead men tell no tales !" 

Then commenced a scene I sicken to relate. If 
there is a reader of these pages who think my lan- 
guage towards the border-ruffians is harsh and uncall- 
ed for, let him look on the scene, and deny if he can 
that the term " ruffian " is deserved. 

They dismounted from their horses, kicked the men, 
and rolled their bodies, weltering in blood, over and 
over to see if they were dead. Finding one only slight- 
ly wounded, Hamilton placed his revolver to his ear, and 
fired, remarking as he did so that he had always found 
that the most certain shot he could make. Those 
who were wounded had presence of mind to conceal 
their pain, suspend breathing, &c., and thus escaped. 
Pockets were searched for money, and all that was of 
any value taken. The key to the safe of the store 
was taken out of young CampbelFs pocket by one of 
the ruffians, who said there was money in that safe, 
and he would come some night and get it. Stillwell, 
one of the victims, had a large sum of money, which 
he secreted in the straw of the wagon, where it remain- 
ed undiscovered by the ruffians. After committing 



The Marias des Cygnes Massacre. 73 

fliese and numerous other outrages, the ruffians mount- 
ed their horses and galloped off. The names of the killed 
were : Wm. Stilhvell of Sugar Mound, recently from 
the State of Indiana. He was a young man, not over 
twenty-eight, and had a young and beautiful wife, 
and two small children. When he left home the 
morning of the massacre, his wife, with a presenti- 
ment of evil on her mind, urged him to take the Ter- 
ritorial road to Kansas City, via Osawattomie. He 
assured her that there was no danger in taking the 
most direct road — that he was known as a peace man, 
and v/ould not be molested. He was killed with a 
double-barreled shot-gun, loaded with pistol balls, 
the charge entering his left breast. He was a "Free- 
Mason,'' and it was said that a Free Mason, Dr. Ham- 
ilton, of Fort Scott, shot him. He was highly esteem- 
ed by all that knew him. 

Patrick Boss was an Irishman, vv^ho had been driv- 
en from his claim on the Little Osage, by the same 
band of ruffians. 

Mr. Colpetzer was a farmer from Pennsylvania. He 
was a quiet, peaceable man — a fair type of that class 
of sturdy settlers who, snugly nestled among the green 
hills and valleys of the land of Penn, have by gene- 
rations of thrift and industry, made her character for 
sobriety and good will proverbial to the world. He 
left a wife and family. 



74 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

Michael KoLinson was a farmer from Iowa. Ho 
was a good citizen, and universally respected. 

John F. Campbell, the store keeper, was from 
Pennsylvania. He was of a remarkably social dispo- 
sition, and had endeared -himself to all who knew him. 
He was quite young and had never been married. 

The wounded were Wm. Hairgrove, Asa Hairgrove, 
Charles Keed, Amos Hall, and Charles Snyder. 

Wm. Hairgrove and Asa Hairgrove are brothers, 
originally from Georgia, who came to Kansas to live 
in a Free State. This is the head and front of their 
offending. The Eev. Charles Eeed is a Baptist cler- 
gyman from Wisconsin, who moved into the neigh- 
borhood of the Post the week previous to the tragedy. 
He had denounced the course of the border-ruffians in 
public, and hence the hatred of Hamilton. Amos 
Hall was a settler, a neighbor of Hamilton's. He had 
never borne arms. Charles Snyder, the blacksmith, 
was shot in the leg and back. He carried several 
buck-shot in his leg all summer. 

The dead had been brought to the village before 
our arrival, and placed in one of the houses. Some of 
the seriously wounded were there also ; among them 
" Preacher Eeed," as he v/as familiarly termed, who 
had crawled off into the woods after he was shot, and 
was not found until the morning following, when he 
was discovered by his faithful wife, who had searched 



The Marias des Oygnes Massacre. 75 

for him all night, and who had him conveyed to the 
town, where his wounds, which were dangerous, could 
be dressed and attended to. 

I went into the house of death. It was not a mor- 
bid curiosity that impelled me to the spot, but an 
irrepressible desire to satisfy myself if the accounts I 
had heard of the manner of their deaths were correct 
in every particular as stated. When I first heard the 
awful narration it seemed to me impossible that twelve 
men, taken indiscriminately from the farm, the build- 
ing, and the roadside, should have acted in a manner 
so truly heroic — I thought there must have been some 
instinctive tremor — some shrinking of the body from 
the foe — from death ; — and of this I wished to satisfy 
myself 

I entered the silent room. On a rude bier lay the 
Kansas martyrs — Colpetzer — Campbell — and Still- 
well ! The last kind ofS.ces were being performed for 
the dead previous to their interment, and their man- 
gled corpses were clearly exposed to view 

It was as stated ! — All had received the fire in the 
front. Not a scar disfigured the back of one of the 
untimely dead, but ! where once beat the gallant 
hearts, thick, thick, as the drops of a summer shower, 
had dashed the leaden hail of death. 

On the cold, pallid lips of the martyred Stillwell 
there rested a faint smile, as though of wife and 



76 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

Heaven were his last thoughts on earth. Over the 
fair, young face of Campbell, and on the seamed fea- 
tures of Colpetzer slept a holy repose, and scarred and 
mangled as were their lifeless forms, it seemed as 
though their spirits in the closing of life had been lifted 
above feelings of corporal pain, so beautifully tranquil 
were the faces of the dead. 



Tlie March on West Point. 77 



CHAPTEK YI. 

THE MARCH ON WEST POINT. 

" They left the ploughshare in the mould, 

Their jBoeks and herds without a fold, 

The sickle in the unshorn grain, 

The corn half-garnered on the plain, 

And mustered in their simple dress 

For wrongs to seek a stem redress. 

To right those wrongs, come weal, come woe, 

To perish, or o'ercome their foe." — McLellan. 

The intelligence of the horrible massacre narrated 
in the last chapter, spread like wild-fire over the coun- 
try, and by the time the arrangements were finally 
completed for a march on West Point, where it was 
supposed some of the murderers were harboring, near- 
ly two hundred men had collected in the little town 
from various parts of the Territory. Some of the 
num^ber were unarmed, old men who had come to give 
their patriarchal counsel to those younger who could 
bear arms ; and some were settlers originally from 
Missouri and States further South, pro-slavery in poli- 
tics, who had been attracted to the spot simply from 



78 Kansas in EigJiteen Fifty-Eight 

curiosity to see the murdered men, and learn what 
was to be done towards arresting their assassins. The 
greater part of those collected, however, were enthu- 
siastically Free State, and men sternly resolved that no 
future exertions on their part should be wanting to 
bring to justice the guilty murderers. 

All the time that active preparations were going 
forward for a march on West Point, scouts were con- 
tinually arriving from various places along the border, 
and communicating the result of their observations to 
the eager-listening crowd assembled. The tenor of 
their communications all went to confirm the general 
impression that Hamilton and some of his ruffians 
were harboring in West Point, and the universal sen- 
timent was for marching on the place and securing 
their arrest — peaceably if possible — but forcibly if re- 
duced to the alternative. One scout, who had been 
nearly to West Point, brought intelligence that the 
town appeared to be full of armed men, and that the 
trail of Hamilton's party, although diverging in va- 
rious directions after getting a few miles out on the 
prairie, bore mainly in the direction of West Point. 
As this scout was one of Capt. Montgomery's men, 
and bore moreover the reputation of being one of the 
best trail-hunters in the Territory, his report was re- 
ceived with due consideration, and although the ac- 
companying announcement of armed force in West 



The March on West Point 79 

» —— 

Point blanched the cheeks of some of the more timid 
of the listeners, it appeared to have no other effect on 
the majority than to stimulate them to still more 
strenuous exertions to expedite their departure. 

The two great obstacles in the way had been arms 
and horses, to fit and mount the men. But few of 
the noted Sharpens rifles were in the southern region 
of the Territory ; the chief weapons were the common 
shot or sporting guns, and not half of the men were 
provided with those. Eunners had been sent to Osa- 
wattomie and Lawrence, begging for aid and arms ; 
but it would be several days before either could arrive 
where needed, and in the interim, necessity, that ^^ mo- 
ther to invention," was busy in supplying the wants 
of arms and a regular organization. Old muskets that 
had slept harmless since the days of '56, and whose 
long rusted locks and disused tubes looked as though 
in discharge they would be as likely to injure friend as 
foe, were brought into requisition ; and anything in 
the animal line, whether horse, mule, or pony, was 
surreptitiously seized and pressed into service. 

The sun was high in the heaven when we rode out 
of the town, and struck the traveled road leading to 
West Point. The company numbered some sixty or 
seventy in all, and was commanded by Gen. Mc 
Daniels and Col. E. B. Mitchell. Caj)t. Montgomery, 
though in the company, and forming with his men 



80 Kansas in Elgliteen Fifty-EigJit. 

— ■ — ■ — s 

(some twelve or fifteen in number,) the solid strength 
of the expedition as regarded equipments and actual 
reliability in case of danger, declined to take any part 
in the command of the men, leaving it all to the 
regular officers under the militia laws of the Territory. 

During the ride I sought the side of the scout who 
brought the intelligence of the armed force in West 
Point, and communicated to him my adventure with 
the border-ruffians the day previous, describing to him 
as faithfully as possible the appearance of the surround- 
ing country, the conversation that ensued, &c. He 
made me repeat some of the description several times, 
and after studying for some moments, he recalled to 
mind the spot where the interview occurred, and after 
settling that point definitely by a few questions, he 
said he had no doubt whatever but what the armed 
men I met were the ruffians of Hamilton, who from 
some motive had left the main company and taken 
that route out- of the Territory. 

The distance from the Trading Post to West Point 
is about ten miles. There had been a few scattering 
settlements along the road at some time previous, but 
the growing difficulties in the Territory had caused 
the settlers to abandon the frontier, and the route was 
lone and solitary. It caused sad feelings in the mind 
to see the deserted farm-houses, with the cattle rioting 
on the luxuriant crops of grain, and the poultry 



The March on West Point. 81 

scratcliing in vain around the yawning and broken- 
down doors of the abandoned habitations for a morsel 
of food. In our journey we passed over a dozen ne- 
glected farms, where oxen and cows were grazing, and 
swine and poultry feeding, without seeing a single 
person to have charge of them. Every where in our 
ride to the frontier — 

" Black melancholy sat, and around her threw 
A death-like silence and a dread repose." 

Yet the country itself was one of unsurpassed loveli- 
ness and natural fertility of soil, and needed but peace 
and the unmolested labors of the husbandman, to 
make the undulating, wide-spread prairie " blossom as 
the rose." 

Late in the afternoon the expedition arrived in 
sight of West Point, and a momentary halt was order- 
ed while the officers held a " council of deliberation." 
In this " council" Capt. Montgomery, and a number 
of the leading citizens of the Territory, participated, 
^ome were in favor of immediately surrounding the 
town, and then, acquainting the civil authorities with 
the object of the visit, make a thorough search for the 
assassins implicated in the massacre of the Marais des 
Cygnes by the survivors of the tragedy. Others be- 
longing to the concervative portion thought that such 
a procedure would give offence to the citizens of West 

Point, and urged the policy of first sending a deputa- 

4v 



82 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

tion from their number to acquaint the authorities 
with the object of the visit, and then proceed in the 
search afterwards. The views of Capt. Montgomery 
when called for were briefly given. 

" Gentlemen/' said he, " unless you wish to make 
this day's work a mere farce, and ourselves the laugh- 
ing stock of the Missourians, on and surround the 
town ; then after having done that, not partially, but 
thoroughly and completely, acquaint the authorities 
with your purpose ; tell them that you mean them no 
harm or disrespect, but you must see the face of every 
man in West Point, to see if the face of a murderer 
is there ; and to assure yourselves of the fact that all 
are shown, you yourselves must conduct the search," 
&c., &c. 

I do not wish to impeach the characters of the 
commanders of that West Point expedition. I believe 
they were men who had the welfare of Kansas at 
heart ; but they were unfitted by nature to hold the 
responsible position they then occupied, and in follow- 
ing their prudent, timorous feelings in opposition to 
the counsel of the experienced Montgomery, a grave 
and serious blunder was committed. 

The deputation was sent. The council had arrested 
the notice of the dwellers of West Point, and the depu- 
tation confirmed the suspicions awakened by the arm- 
ed array drawn out on the prairie. The word ran 



The March on West Point 83 

swiftly from mouth to mouth over the town, and long 
before the tardy deputation returned, to our mortifi- 
cation we saw the very desperadoes in all probability 
for whom we crossed the border, break from the town 
and dart across the prairie in an eastward direction. 
There were mutterings of dissatisfaction among the 
men, particularly with the little band of Montgomery 
that were only restrained in due bounds by the stern 
control exercised over them by their chieftain ; and 
when at last the tardy " forward" was given, breaking 
through all restraint, they left the ranks, and like 
hounds released from the leash, scoured the prairie in 
pursuit of the fugitives. 

How many made their escape on that occasion from 
West Point will never be known, but certain it is that 
when the company entered the town, where they were 
received with great politeness by the citizens, not a 
man concerned in the massacre of the previous day, 
although known to be living in West Point, could be 
found in or around the town. 

Soon in came the band of Montgomery who brought 
as the result of their steeple-chase over the prairie, an 
odd-looking, diminutive man as prisoner, whose gog- 
gle, gray eyes seemed fairly starting from their sockets 
with fright. He proved to be a brother to one of the 
murderers, and after a short examination, was released 
from custody. His captors seemed quite unwilling for 



84 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

him to escape, as from his great exertions to get off, 
they had conceived the idea he was one of the mur- 
derers ; but when his "alibi" was clearly proven, they 
freely gave him up ; the one having him in charge 
saying that if he had known he was running from 
mere fright, he would not have bio wed his " Betsey" 
as he had. 

The expedition remained some time in West Point, 
during which period I had ample opportunity to ob- 
serve the town. I am sorry I cannot say much in favor 
of West Point. With all due deference to the posi- 
tion it occupies with Missouri and the great Southern 
half of the U7iion, truth compels me to state that the 
two most important characteristics of the place are, 
viz., its rum-shops, and the rum-bloated faces one 
meets with in traversing its streets. I have seen some 
western towns that I had thought previous to visiting 
Weet Point, were about the " ne plus ultra" in that 
direction, but I was mistaken. Nothing that I had 
ever beheld would equal West Point. It has been my 
fortune to tread its streets on several different occa- 
sions, and it always wore the same aspect. The town 
is small, not containing over two or three hundred in- 
habitants. The buildings are chiefly log, and although 
some of them are of considerable size, there is scarcely 
a decent appearing structure in the town. It is lo- 
cated near the State line, on a high prairie mound or 



The March on West Point, 85 

promontory, from which, of a clear day, you can see 
miles and miles into the Territory. 

It was nearly nightfall when we left the town, and 
darkness set in before proceeding far on our homeward 
journey. It was my first day in the saddle for some 
time, and I was excessively wearied with the long ride 
I had undergone, but I did not dare to indulge myself 
with a moment's forgetfulness, as the way was rough, 
and in the pitchy darkness of the moonless, starless 
night, the utmost caution was required to guide my 
horse over the various obstacles that made our progress 
slow and tedious. Late in the night we arrived at the 
Trading Post where the greater part of the men re- 
mained until the next morning. There were no ac- 
commodations for such a company in the little village, 
and after larieting out our horses, and putting out a 
strong guard, we carried some straw into a deserted 
house close to the river, and deposited ourselves in 
tiers thereon for the night 

The wearied out. men around me soon gave evidence 
by their sonorous breathing that they were safe, clasj)- 
ed in the arms of the drowsy "god," but it was long 
before slumber visited my eyelids. The stirring events 
of the day, the forms of the martyred men on which I 
gazed in the morning, all rose in review before me, 
and resolve as I would to banish them from my 
mind — 



86 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

" Thoughts on thoughts a countless throng, 
Rushed, chasing countless thoughts along." 

until wearied out nature at last obtained the mastery, 
and I slept until morning. 



The Burial of Stillwell. 87 



CHAPTEE VII. 

THE BURIAL OF STILLWELL. 

"Wind slow from the Swan's Marsh, 

dreary death train, 
With pressed lips as bloodless 

As lips of the slain ! — 
Kiss down the young eyelids, 

Smooth down the gray hairs. 
Let tears quench the curses 

That burn through your prayers." — Whittier. 

The next morning a council of the leading settlers 
was held in the little town, and regular arrangements 
made for their future protection. A strong volunteer 
force was to remain in, or near the Post until the suc- 
ceeding Monday, when they were to be relieved by 
other settlers who would take their places in guarding 
the line. These arrangements satisfactorily perfect- 
ed, the settlers began to disperse in various directions 
towards their distant homes. Wishing to ascertain 
if any of my relatives living at Sugar Mound had re- 
turned from their visit east, I concluded I would take 
advantage of some settlers starting to their homes in 
that neighborhood, and have some company in the 



88 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit, 

journey. We set out about 10 o'clock, a. m., and 
arrived at our destination early in the afternoon. 

Our route for the first two or three miles lay along 
the bottom of the Marias des Cygnes, which was dense- 
ly wooded with walnut, oak, sycamore, maple, &c. 
We crossed the lower ford of the stream, swimming 
our horses over the swift current, it having rained 
considerably during the night, and previous to our de- 
parture. One young man mounted on an Indian pony 
was borne some distance down the foaming stream, 
and narrowly escaped losing his life. After crossing 
the ford, and journeying along the banks of the stream 
for about a mile, we turned westward and ascended 
the high prairie. The country passed through was 
one of great beauty, but owing to its contiguity to 
the border was but thinly settled. 

After proceeding some five or six miles we came in 
sight of Sugar Mound, a place long noted in Kansas 
history. It is a bold, high elevation, rising to the al- 
titude of upwards of a hundred feet above the surround- 
ing prairie, and densely covered with timber. It de- 
rives its name from Sugar Creek, which flows a short 
distance from its base. It was early settled by the 
Free-State men, and was the theatre of one of Gen. 
Clark's ruthless forays in '^Q. He murdered two or 
three of the settlers, burned and pillaged several 
stores and dwellings, and took a great number of pris- 



The Burial of Stillwell 89 

oners. Clark at that time had three hundred men 
under his command. 

Just before arriving at the Mound we came in sight 
of the prairie home of Stillwell, one of the murdered 
men at the massacre of Marias des Oygnes. He had 
been brou2:ht home for interment. There were two or 
three rude wagons around the house of mourning, 
brought by kindly sympathising friends to convey the 
relatives of the deceased and the corpse to its last rest- 
ing place. The dwelling was a rude log structure, but 
the enclosed yard, the neatly kept garden, and the gen- 
eral air of thrift and neatness around, all told that the 
Eden-bliss of a happy home was destroyed forever more. 

On arriving at the grocery at the Mound we found 
quite a number of settlers collected, awaiting the ar- 
rival of the funeral cortege to proceed to the place of 
interment. The intelligence of his sad fate had cre- 
ated a great excitement wherever circulated, as he 
was widely known and universally respected ; and the 
hardy settlers far and near had congregated together, 
to testify their sense of his worth by paying the last 
marks of respect to the untimely dead. Feeling but 
little interest in the stranger faces around me, and 
learning that my relatives had not yet returned to 
Sugar Mound, I bent my steps to the place of burial 
where some workmen were rudely fashioning the has- 
tily dug grave. 



90 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight 

The spot selected was a beautiful wooded knoll on 
the south bank of Sugar Creek, where a few scatter- 
ing mounds gave evidence that the place had been 
used as a burial-ground by the early inhabitants. — 
Soon the funeral cortege made its appearance winding 
across the distant prairies, and the collected settlers 
forming two by two, with their arms to their shoul- 
ders, took up the line of march with slow and meas- 
ured step to the place of interment. Arriving there 
they formed in lines, and with decent demeanor, and 
amid the most profound stillness, awaiting the arrival 
of the funeral train. 

In a few minutes the death-procession halted in 
front of the grave, and the untimely bereaved widow 
and her two infant children were assisted to alight 
and conducted by some kind neighboring women to 
some rude seats constructed for the accommodation of 
the mourners. She wore a thick veil which prevented 
her features from being seen, but the convulsive sobs 
that momentarily shook her frame, gave unmistakable 
tokens of the almost insupportable anguish of her 
mind under her sudden and terrible bereavement. — 
The children, too, as though sensible of a father's 
loss, or from sympathy with their mother's uncontrol- 
lable sorrow, sobbed as though their little hearts would 
break. A kind friend, who was intimate with her 
and who was acquainted with what little was known 



The Burial of Stillwell 91 

concerning the last moments of her husband, sat down 
by her side to pour the balm of consolation on her 
deep-laid sorrow, but vain was his well-meant sympa- 
thy. It only opened afresh the flood-gates of her lacer- 
ated feelings, and ever and anon, during the sad reci- 
tal which he endeavored to soften as much as possi- 
ble, she would hysterically murmur : — 

" 0, if he had only left some message for me, it 
would not have been quite so dreadful ! — 0, if he had 
only left some message of his wishes !" 

The rude coffin was taken from the wagon, and 
borne by stout men to its final place of rest. It was 
carefully lowered to the bottom of the grave, and then 
the bearers stepped back to allow the stricken, heart- 
broken mourner a last lingering look at the recepta- 
cle containing all that 'was most cherished in life. 
She swept aside the thick folds of her veil, revealing 
as she gazed down into the narrow depths where her 
fondest hopes were soon to be buried forever, a face 
whose trancendent loveliness was visible even through 
the abandonment of sorrow that was fast sapping the 
foundation of life. One moment she gazed thus, while 
over her mind swept the full recollection of the recent 
terrible past, and a sense of the blasted, joyless future 
before her, and then reeling backwards would have 
fallen, had not one of the women caught her, and as- 
sisted by others, conducted her to her former seat. 



92 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

When she revived and was sensible of what was 
transpiring around her, an old man (4) with hair as 
white as snow, stepped a few paces forward, and said 
he craved the privilege of saying a few words on the 
solemn occasion which had called them together. A 
stillness to oppression reigned over the place of death, 
as the old man with a clear, deliberate voice com- 
menced : — 

^- My friends ! I am, as you know, no speaker, but 
in the absence of a minister I have felt it my duty to 
say a few words. To-day we have assembled to bury 
our poor murdered brother Stillwell, and to-morrow a 
diiferent duty lies before us. He was basely, cruelly 
murdered in cold blood, without cause or provocation, 
and we must avenge his death on the cruel, bloody 
murderers. Our brother's innocent blood, until this is 
done, will cry to us from the ground. It is written 
in the Holy Book that ' whoso sheddeth man's blood, 
by man shall his blood be shed ;' that ' as a man 
sows, so shall he surely reap,' and ^ as he metes, so shall 
it be meted unto him again.' We can testify our love 
and respect for our butchered brother, and our sym- 
pathy for his lonely, disconsolate widow and orphaned 
children, in no better manner than by determined and 
persistents efibrt to bring to punishment his guilty 
murderers. Every thing incites us to such a course. 
Duty to God, the highest of all duties, demands it t 



Tho, Burial of Stillwell 93 

The innocent blood of our murdered neighbors de- 
mands it ! Personal safety — the welfare of ourselves, 
our wives, and our children, demand that we should be 
up and doing ! My friends ! I am an old man. I am 
fast hastening to the grave. I would say nothing at 
any time — least of all on such an awful occasion as 
this — that I did not at heart believe, and I believe 
that in our exertions to feret out and bring to justice 
the murderers of our dear, lifeless brother and his slain 
companions, the ^ God of battles' will smooth the diffi- 
culties of the .way, and preserve us from harm — amen !" 
The effect produced by the earnest eloquence of the 
old man was almost indescribable. I have been in 
many an eastern grave-yard, w^hen the power and 
. eloquence of the learned and classical preacher seemed 
to sway at will the feelings of those congregated over 
the fresh-made grave of some loved one departed, but 
I never saw such an exhibition of emotion as that 
awakened by the few unpremeditated words spoken 
over the grave of the martyred Stillwell. 

It was not the outward exhibition of grief that so 
strikingly manifested itself, but that deep, inward 
fount of sorrow so rarely touched in those unconnect- 
ed with the departed, was moved to its utmost depths 
in the hearts of all assembled, and the strong man was 
for a moment as weak and powerless as the child who 
needs its mother's hand to guide its steps. 



94 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

When the emotion had somewhat subsided, the 
bearers once more approached the grave ; some straw 
was scattered on the rude coffin, and the final filling 
in of the earth follovfed. Soon all was completed, and 
the mourning widow and sympathizing friends alike 
moved slowly away. And so all was over ! Another 
victim of the Moloch, Slavery, had been removed from 
the sight of men, and the thunders of Him who has 
said, '^ Vengeance is mine, and I will repay," were 
still sleeping. 



Fort Hamilton. 95 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

FORT HAMILTON. 

" The terror of the country 'roxind 

Has fied his robber-hold, 
And in his log-built fortress now 

Are none but freemen bold." — Boeder Song. 

I WILL pass briefly over the two days that succeed- 
ed the events narrated in the last chapter, during 
which period I remained in the vicinity of Sugar 
Mound, doing little of moment except taking my turn 
at nights in standing guard over the place, which, 
from its contiguity to the border, and the known 
character of its inhabitants, had been threatened at 
various times by the Missourians. 

The morning of the 24th of May there was a mus- 
ter of the Sugar Mound guards in front of the little 
grocery of the place, previous to marching to the 
frontier to relieve the company left at the Post at the 
time of our departure. Not more than a score collect- 
ed in consequence of a number having gone with Capt. 
Montgomery down to the neighborhood of Fort Scott, 



96 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight, 

where he had been sent for by the settlers of the Osage 
and Marmaton rivers, to protect them from the depre- 
dations of the guerrillas of the Fort and bordering 
counties of Missouri, which had grown into being al- 
most a nightly occurrence. The time set for the de- 
parture of the comj)any was ten o'clock, a. m., but the 
men were tardy in getting together, and the sun had 
nearly approached its meridian, when Capt. Weaver 
abandoning the idea of increasing further his number, 
took his j)lace at the head of his little force, and in 
double file we wound along the base of Sugar Mound 
on our route to the Free State camp on the Marais 
des Cygnes. The day was gloomy, and a chill East 
wind blew against our faces, accompanied at times by 
a fine mist, which rendered the ride unpleasant com- 
pared with some I had taken previously. On arriving 
at the ford of the stream, we found its waters had 
greatly subsided, and we crossed over without any 
difficulty. 

The report of the company left to guard the line 
was not very important in character, except that por- 
tion of it which confirmed the existence of a number 
of companies of armed men along the Missouri side of 
the line, with whose scouts and outposts, several 
skirmishes of a trifling character had taken place. 

After our arrival at the Post, the men hitherto on 
duty were released from further service, and in a short 



Fort Hamilton. 97 



\ 



time the most of them took their departure for their 
distant homes. A few, however, who were young men, 
without any families, at the urgent solicitations of 
Capt. Weaver, and those with whom they were ac- 
quainted, consented to remain, and were valuable 
auxiliaries throughout our stay on the frontier. Dur- 
ing the afternoon considerable scouting was done by 
our men, which strongly confirmed the report made 
us, that the enemy were in considerable force just over 
the line, and a while before evening we left the little 
village, and took up our march for Fort Hamilton, 
where we quartered ourselves for the night. The little 
force under Capt. Weaver did not exceed thirty men 
all told, but they were well armed, generally speaking, 
and in the secure fortress they had thrown themselves, 
would have proven a formidable adversary to almost 
any foe that might have sought to dislodge them from 
their position. 

The night was dark and gloomy, but there was no 
gloom or darkness inside of Fort Hamilton. After 
strong guards had been out on all the roads and passes 
leading into the Territory, and every precaution taken 
to guard against a sudden surprise from the enemy, 
the residue of the little company immediately gave 
themselves up to the enjoyment of the moment. A 
huge fire blazed and crackled on the wide, open hearth ; 
lights were hung from the beams and rafters, and an 



98 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

air of genial warmth and comfort pervaded the whole 
apartment. Each of the company had brought rations 
for several days with him, and the long board was 
covered with ample cheer, to which the hungry men 
were doing full justice, while many a joke and humor- 
ous tale went circling round, that caused the bursts of 
hearty laughter elicited to be echoed back from the 
huge beams and smoke-covered rafters of the olden 
stronghold of the robber Hamilton. 

" What would the grim chieftain think," said one 
of the company, a fine-looking youth of some three- 
and-twenty summers, who appeared to be a general 
favorite with all assembled, " if he could only look in 
a moment on this cool appropriation of his den, so 
long the rendezvous of a gentry of a different descrip- 
tion, to such uses as it is appropriated to this even- 
ing ? I ween the blood of the old tiger would full 
soon be even more ireful than it was when he so un- 
ceremoniously ordered Dick Northup from this very 
room one Sunday evening last wdnter." 

"Why, how was that, Ed?" said half a score of 
voices, " tell the story !" And solicited by the whole 
company, all of whom professed to be ignorant of the 
occurrence, the young man, nothing loath, commenced 
the following narrative. 

" Why, you see old Hamilton has an only daughter, 
who is as fair as he is ugly, and as good as he is vil- 



Fort Hainilton. 99 

lainous ; and who is moreover highly intelligent and 
accomplished, having received a splendid education 
previous to accompanying her father to Kansas. "While 
living here in Kansas he was very choice of her, scarce- 
ly allowing her to stir out for fear, I suppose, she would 
become contaminated by associating with the Yankee 
settlers, and the poor girl must have led a lonely life 
enough of it, cooped up in this dismal Fort, with no 
companions but her father and his vile associates. 
But it so happened that some time last winter, Dick 
Northup — you all know what a fine, manly fellow 
Dick is, with hand as steady as ever drew a trigger — 
was out on a hunting expedition, and stopped at old 
Hamilton's to get a drink of the spring water, which 
you know is celebrated for its excellence. The old 
tiger was away from home, and Dick asked the young 
lady's permission to come in and rest himself for a 
few minutes, to w^hich request ghe graciously acceded. 
It was not that Dick Northup was tired, for a more 
unwearying foot never pressed the prairies, as I who 
have hunted for days with him ought to know ; but 
he had heard the great beauty of old Hamilton's 
daughter so frequently spoken of, that he had a great 
desire to ascertain for himself the truth of the various 
rumors that had reached him. Well, to make a long 
story short, Dick was pleased with the young lady, and 
the young lady was pleased wdth Dick, and some how 



100 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

after that day, no matter which way Dick started out 
after game, he was pretty sure to make Hamilton's 
rendezvous in his route before returning : keeping, 
however, at a safe distance if he saw any signs of the 
old bear about his den. One Sunday night Dick re- 
ceived intimation that the coast was clear, and started 
for an evening of enjoyment with the object of his af- 
fections, but as it is an old saying, ' that the course 
of true love never runs smooth,' so it was a true say- 
ing in this instance, for Dick had not much more than 
got comfortably seated by the side of the aforesaid 
lady, and was just commencing some of those little 
endearments so comm.on to lovers, when the door sud- 
denly opened, and the father, who was supposed to be 
in Missouri, entered the domicile. Dick, who doubt- 
less devoutly wished the old gentleman in that place 
unmentionable to ears polite, arose to his feet, and in 
a somewhat confused manner, stammered something 
about its being a fine night, etc., etc. The first glance 
bestowed by the old tiger around the apartment, re- 
vealed to him the true state of things ; and stepping 
back to the door and opening it, he said in that cut- 
ting, sarcastic manner, which he could so well assume 
when he choose — 'Yes, I think it is rather a fine 
night, suppose you walk out and try it/ There was 
no alternative for poor Dick, and gulping down the 
rising desire he felt to spring upon and throttle the 



Fort Hamilton. 101 



smiling old rascal, he bowed to tlie young lady and 
took liis departure. She was soon after sent by old 
Hamilton to Missouri, and Dick, from the love he 
bears for Kansas, joined the little band of Montgomery 
shortly after her departure from the Territory. Com- 
rades, this is about all of my story ; whether the lovers 
will ever meet again is more than I can tell, but this 
I know, that when Dick Northup hears of this last 
bloody raid of old Hamilton's, the love he bears the 
daughter will not screen the father from receiving the 
punishment his sins so justly demand should the for- 
tunes of war ever place him in his power." 

" Bravo, Ed ! Well told !" said one of his compan- 
ions when he had finished the recital. " Why, where 
did you learn the trade of a novelist ? You have told 
the story with all the art of a Cooper ! But is it a fact 
or fiction, that's the question ?" 

" Strictly true, on my honor," said the youth, ^^ I 
have heard Dick go over it a score of times, and he is 
a person incapable of uttering a falsehood." 

" Well," said another youth, who had not yet spo- 
ken, " we have had a tale of love, and now for a 
change, let us have one of border-ruffian outrage, to 
make us patriotic in case we are attacked by the ene- 
my before morning." 

" Agreed, agreed I" was echoed by a score of voices, 
" let us have a story of border- ruffian outrage by all 
means ! — but who will be narrator ?" 



102 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight, 

'' I will be !" said a voice from a remote corner of 
the room, and the speaker, (5) a tall, slender man,- 
with face on which the lines of care and suffering 
were strongly traced, strode forward and took a seat 
close to the group still assembled around the board on 
which had been spread the evening repast. He sat 
for a few moments with his head bowed upon his hands 
as though overcome by the recollections awakened in 
his mind, and then commenced : — 

" Comrades, you have heard a story of the daugh- 
ter ! — I will tell you one of the father ! The daugh- 
ter may be good and virtuous as he says, I know noth- 
ing about her save what I have heard this evening, 
but a blacker heart than that of old Hamilton's there 
beats not on earth. Some of you know me ! — know 
me as one of the men of Montgomery ! — know me for 
my hostility to Capt. Hamilton ! — but few, or none of 
you know the cause — the true cause of that implaca- 
able, deathless hatred. I had thought to carry my 
secrets with me to the grave, but since this last damn- 
ing deed of his committance, and since even the ^ very 
stones cry out in mutiny,' I have resolved to keep 
back nothing that will tend to inspire in the breasts 
of the freemen of Kansas a tithe of the deathless ha- 
tred I bear to that man. If you wonder at that ha- 
tred, listen to my story ! — Two years ago I was a 
peaceful, happy man ; the husband of a beautiful 



Fort Hamilton. 103 



and fondly cherished wife, and the owner of a pleasant 
cabin home. Where is now that peace ; — that wife ; 
— that cabin home ? All, all are gone, and I am a 
wanderer on the face of the earth ! Hamilton was 
the destroyer of my happiness \ He came last win- 
ter a year with his gang of ruffians to my humble, but 
happy home, while I was absent on business, and in 
the cover of darkness he committed a deed on the .per- 
son of my delicate, helpless wife, too horrible and 
atrocious for even a fiend to have committed. I did 
not arrive home until late in the night. They had 
then been gone for some time. Startled by see- 
ing no light, I hastened in without taking care of 
my horse, and to my horror and amazement I found 
my fondly cherished wife lying upon the bed entirely 
senseless, and to all appearance at the point of death. 
I called her by every endearing epithet, but she made 
me no reply. I bathed her head and face with restora- 
tives, and kneeling before her, chafed her cold, cold 
limbs, but for a long time without any effect. Final- 
ly, after what seemed hours of torture to me, she 
slowly revived from her death-like state, and before 
morning was able to relate the horrible particulars of 
the visit of Hamilton. Her system, however, had re- 
ceived too great a shock for its delicate organization 
to withstand, and after lingering throughout the win- 
ter and spring, she died in early June — died in my 



104 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight 

arms, and was buried on the banks of the Little 
Osage, in sight of the home where she had lived a few 
short months of happiness, and where she received the 
murderous blow that wrought her untimely death. — 
Comrades, up to that time a thought of revenge had 
never crossed the peaceful current of my existence. I 
was peaceful by nature ; I had never participated in 
any of the Territorial difficulties ; I knew not Ham- 
ilton even, only by name — but, comrades, when I saw 
the earth heaped above her murdered form, I took a 
solemn oath, and the angels on high registered it, that 
I would know no rest, and know no home, until I had 
vengeance on her cowardly, soulless assassin. Com- 
rades, you know my life since that period ! — You 
know that I have been true to my solemn vow ! I 
have known no rest, and known no home ; I have 
Bought by night, and by day ; alone, and with armed 
array, for an opportunity to avenge my undying 
wrong with his heart's blood, but as yet I have sought 
in vain. Some power has seemed to protect him at the 
very time I deemed myself most sure of satiating my 
vengeance ; but I bide my time, until the hand of 
God or man's arrests the murderer in his career of 
crime.'' 

As soon as the speaker ceased his narration, he 
moved backwards to his old position in the corner of the 
Fort, and in a moment was apparently as profoundly 



Fort Hamilton. 105 



buried in thought as he was previous to his sudden 
appearance on the theatre of action. A few minutes 
served to remove the first marked impression of his thrill- 
ing narration, and in a short time the general current of 
feeling reverted to its former careless, livelier channel. 
And so with joke, and tale, and song wore the hours 
of the night in Fort Hamilton. It appeared strange 
to me, at first, that so much gayety and apparent 
unconcern should exist amid such danger as then 
menaced the frontier, but I soon learned by experi- 
ence that the mind familiar grown with danger, soon 
accustoms itself to exercise complete control over the 
feelings even in times of the most imminent peril ; 
and the Kansas settler who has lived for years where 
murders are of almost daily occurrence, and where law, 
property, and life itself rests upon the bowie-knife and 
revolver basis, more than on any other tenure ; looks 
upon life, at home or when abroad, in time of partial 
peace or during open hostility, as something he may lose 
at any moment, and all times, and all places are similar 
to him. Yet the gayety which he at times exhibits 
is not by any means the trivial unmeaning merriment 
of indifierence ; but frequently assumed to cheer the 
drooping spirits of the more desponding, or to woo the 
mind from its own melancholy broodings over personal 
sorrows, or the distracted state of a land overrun, wast- 
ed, and well-nigh lost to freedom. 



5* 



106 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

The next morning our company was increased by 
the arrival of some ten or a dozen volunteers from the 
neighborhood of Osawattomie. They were a valuable 
acquisition to our company, being mostly armed with 
Sharpens rifles, and men who had seen considerable 
service. The most of that day was spent in scouting 
over the country adjacent to the border. Feeling 
more at home at such employment than in assisting 
in the culinary department in the Fort, I spent a con- 
siderable portion of the day in the saddle, accompany- 
ing various scouting expeditions. The views from some 
of the high mounds scattered over the country were 
exceedingly beautiful. From one near the border we 
could see the town of West Point, and a great extent 
of surroimding country. We could see that the town 
was strongly guarded, and occasionally a small scout- 
ing party would gallop out of the town and approach 
us in a defiant manner, but they were invariably care- 
ful not to get within range of our Sharpens rifles. 

Towards evening a suspicious looking character, 
mounted on a sorry looking mule, rode up to the Fort, 
and begged permission to remain all night. He said 
he was a traveler in the Territory, and was on his 
way from Fort Scott to Kansas City. He came from 
a southward direction, but as it was feared he was a 
spy from Missouri, who had just crossed the border a 
few miles below as a ruse, and had come to spy out 



Fort Hamilton. 107 



I the actual number of men in Fort Hamiltonj he was 
furnished with some eatables and started off without 
being allowed to see the inside of the camp. He 
made so many excuses to remain until morning, that 
the suspicions entertained concerning his true charac- 
ter were almost confirmed, and he was at last told to 
begone instantly, and that if he was ever seen around 
there again he might stay longer than he wanted to. 
This threat, coupled with the firm manner in which 
it was spoken, produced the desired effect, and the 
would-he guest made his cropped-eared mule carry 
him off faster than it brought him to our presence. 

Nothing of importance transpired that night, and 
the next day was but a repetition of the day that pre- 
ceded it. The spirits of the little garrison never flag- 
ged, and the rougher life of the citizen-soldier was 
softened by the hours spent around the camp-fire, lis- 
tening to the tale and the song that never failed to make 
their appearance, to revive his spirits, and form the 
evening's amusement. There was but little profanity 
or obscenity in the language employed by the majori- 
ty of the settlers ; rude and unpolished it was fre- 
quently, but there was a freedom from blasphemy and 
vulgarity in it, that one would scarcely expect to find 
. in men who had led such rough and unsettled lives. 

The next day rumor came to our camp of fresh out- 
rages committed on the Little Osage, in Bourbon co.. 



108 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit, 

by the Missourians and their allies in Fort Scott ; and 
that Capt. Montgomery who was then on the Little 
sage with his company, was preparing for a march 
on Fort Scott, where it was reported that Brocket, 
Hill, and a number of the men concerned in the Ma- 
rais des Cygnes massacre, were harboring under the 
protection of the troops of the Fort. Wishing to as- 
certain for myself the truth of these rumors, I conclu- 
ded I would leave Fort Hamilton that afternoon, and 
return to Sugar Mound, from whence I would start 
the nest morning for the neighborhood of Fort Scott. 
Just as I was getting ready to leave the camp, a young 
man living near Sugar Mound received a summons 
from home for him to return immediately, and I was 
thus accidentally favored with company the greater 
part of the journey. 

The afternoon was quite sultry, and we walked our 
horses the greater part of the distance ; beguiling thei 
way with pleasant converse until we arrived at a place 
where our roads diverged in separate directions. I 
then urged my horse to a faster pace, and arrived at 
Sugar Mound just before night-fall. 



A Night on Mine Greek. 109 



CHAPTER IX. 

A NIGHT ON MINE CREEK. 

*' The brare man faces dangers feared, 

'Tis only cowards fly ; 
Upon the soil our homes are reared, 

We'll live, or guarding die."— Border Sonq. 

I HAD scarcely arrived at the place, and sent off my 
horse to the settler from whom I had obtained him, 
when word was brought to the grocery that a party of 
Missourians had been on Mine Creek, a stream some 
four or five miles from the Mound, the evening pre- 
vious, and had committed considerable depredation 
on the settlers. The messenger who brought the word 
said, that owing to their being disappointed in getting 
help to assist them to guard their settlement that 
night, he had been despatched at that late hour to the 
Mound to procure assistance, if any men could possibly 
be spared from duty at that place. He also added that 
the settlers there were almost worn out with constant 
watching day and night, and stood badly in need of 
rest, which they could not obtain unless assistance was 



110 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

sent them from some quarter, as their exposed position 
near the border made them liable to an attack at any 
moment. 

There were quite a number of men around the little 
grocery of the Mound, who had collected to guard the 
embryo town which, from its possessing among other 
things a large steam-mill, had been repeatedly threat- 
ened by the Missourians. The question of sparing 
some of their number was immediately taken into con- 
sideration by the little group of men, who finally de- 
cided that five or six might be spared, leaving it to 
the men themselves which should go. I was wearied 
with my long ride, and had meditated getting a good 
night's rest before departing South, but the men seem- 
ed reluctant to volunteer, and one young man with 
whom I was slightly acquainted, said that if I would 
go he would go, and in order to get the requisite num- 
ber, I made up my mind to accompany the little party. 

As the place we were directed to was not more than 
five or six miles from the Mound, we thought we 
would not go to the trouble of procuring horses, and 
60 making what few preparations were indispensably 
necessary, we left the Mound just before sun set for 
our assigned destination in Mine Creek. We were 
six in number — all young men — and a gayer party 
than we were that May night seldom trod the prairies 
of Kansas. Darkness set in before we had accom- 



A Night on Mine Creek. Ill 

plislied half the journey, but some of the party were 
intimately acquainted with the country, and with 
laugh, and joke, and song, we whiled the time until 
we struck the heavy timber skirting both sides of 
Mine Creek. The uneven character of the ground 
then rendered the greatest caution necessary to pre- 
vent constant stumbling over the roots, dead logs, &c., 
that impeded our progress, and silence was preserved 
by the little party, save when some unlucky member, 
in stumbling over a log, or plunging through a mo- 
rass, would give vent to some expression more expres- 
sive than classic or elegant. After emerging from the 
timber we soon came in sight of the building to which 
we were directed, which was a small, log church, erect- 
ed by the early settlers of Mine Creek as a place of 
worship, but which the troubles of the times had con- 
verted into a fort and retreat for the settlers in times 
of danger to the frontier. 

On arriving at the place, we found about a dozen 
armed men assembled, who evinced by their cool, de- 
termined manner that they were resolved to protect 
their families and their properties to the last drop of 
their blood. They were the surrounding settlers, and 
were of all ages, from the hoary grandsire to the slen- 
der stripling, who had just commenced to learn the 
use of arms. The church, or fort more properly speak- 
ing, was about two miles from the border, and on an 



112 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

elevation thinly covered with timber. Between the 
church and the border there were no settlers living ; 
there had been a few scattering settlements, but the 
houses were all abandoned at the first commencement 
of serious difficulties. 

After putting out strong guards wherever needed, 
the residue of the little company seated themselves in 
the rude building in front of the genial fire blazing on 
the broad, open hearth, and fell to discoursing on the 
stirring events of the previous night, during the inva- 
sion of the Territory by the Missourians. Wishing to 
learn the particulars of the affair, of which I had heard 
such conflictory accounts, I requested an old man, 
seated near me, to inform me of the facts relative to 
the matter, which he did as follows : — 

" For the past fortnight we have kept up a guard, 
but until last night our settlement was not visited to 
our knowledge, by any party intending us mischief. 
Last night we put out our guards as usual, giving a 
young man by the name of Boucher the extreme out- 
post towards the line. As this out-picket is better 
than a mile from here, it is the custom for whoever is 
to be stationed there to take a fleet horse with him, so 
that if any signs of danger are perceivable, he can gal- 
lop back, and notify the rest of the approach of the 
enemy. Boucher took his post at ten o'clock in the 
evening, and was to remain on guard until twelve, 



A Night on Mine Creek. 113 

when he was to be relieved by the guard appointed to 
Bucceed him. It was a dark night, as perhaps you 
remember, and Boucher said that even when straining 
his eyes to the utmost, he could not see a dozen yards 
ahead of hiinself on the prairie, but as he was stationed 
near the main road from the border to the settlement 
on Mine Creek, he was not much afraid that any com- 
pany of men could slip by him unperceived. His 
watch had about half expired when he fancied he 
heard the tread of horses' hoofs on the distant prairie. 
Boucher is a brave fellow, and instead of mounting his 
horse and rushing into camp with the intelligence, as 
many would have done in his situation, he resolved to 
make certain his suspicions before communicating what 
might prove a false alarm, and so remained at his post 
until the tread of horses' hoofs, and the roll of wagon 
wheels were clearly distinguishable. Boucher then 
hastened to mount his horse, but in his anxiety to 
ascertain the existence, force, &c., of the enemy, he 
had delayed so long that the sounds of his horse's 
hoofs were heard in his cautious moving off by the 
enemy, and a number immediately started in pur- 
suit of the flying Boucher, who, when he found he 
was pursued, immediately urged his horse into his 
swiftest gallop. It was a race for life ! His pursuers 
at first called on him to stop if he valued his exist- 
ence, but finding that he paid no attention to their 



114 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight 

summons, they commenced a fire on him with their 
rifies. Owing to the darkness of the night, however, 
their balls took no effect, and Boucher was rapidly- 
gaining on his pursuers, when in hastily crossing a 
deep ravine, his horse stumbled and fell, precipitating 
his rider forcibly to the earth. Boucher was stunned 
for a few moments by his fall, and in the interim his 
horse galloped off, drawing the horsemen on a false 
scent, and allowing poor Boucher opportunity to make 
his way to our camp, which had been aroused by the 
report of fire-arms, and was prepared for the approach 
of the enemy. They did not come, however, not car- 
ing to attack our post, which they knew was strongly 
guarded, but contented themselves with gathering up 
some stock and furniture, found around and in some 
of the deserted houses of the settlers, contiguous to 
the frontier, with which they left the Territory." 

" But, why, was there a wagon in the party ?" said 
I, when the old man had finished his recital, to which 
I in common with all assembled, had listened with 
interest. 

" Why,'' said the old man, " we think the main ob- 
ject of the expedition last night was plunder — that it 
was a mere marauding party, and the wagon or wagons 
were brought along to carry off the pillage they might 
obtain in their search of the deserted houses of the 
settlers." 



A Night on Mine Creek. 115 

Finding that the old man was quite intelligent and 
inclined to be friendly, I continued the conversation, 
which insensibly flowed into other channels after the 
above narrative had been fully commented on by the 
various members of the little company. 

"This building, I believe, was once used as a 
church,'' said I, addressing the old man in an interval 
of silence. 

"Yes,'' he replied, "we formerly held meetings here, 
and very strange it seems to me to be sitting here with 
the rifle in my hands, where I have so often sat with 
prayer-book instead, listening to the words of the 
preacher." 

" You are a member of the church then ?" 

" Yes, I am one (6) of five brothers. We came to 
the Territory in '55 from Iowa. We were all of one 
religious persuasion. We came to Kansas to live, 
where land was cheap, so that we could provide homes 
for our children, and our children's children. One of 
our first labors was to build this church, which we 
deemed would answer the purpose until the neighbor- 
hood demanded a larger edifice. The idea that it 
would ever be needed for such a purpose as the present 
never entered the mind of one of its builders. All 
then was peace along this now troubled border, and 
for months we worshiped in peace, but in ^5Q our first 
difficulties commenced. Three hundred men under 



116 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

Gen. Clarke invaded the Territory, and our flourishing 
settlement received the first check to its prosperity. 
We made no resistance ; we had been taught to obey 
the divine precepts of our Saviour, viz., to * love our 
enemy as ourselves,' to ' present the other cheek when 
smitten,' &c., and we acted agreeably to our early 
teachings. But it did not save us from insult and 
outrage from the hands of those border-ruffians. Our 
horses were driven off, our stores and dwellings many 
of them were fired and plundered, and a great number 
of peaceful, quiet settlers taken as prisoners to Mis- 
souri, from whence some of them never returned. Yet 
this, bad as it was, was but the commencement of our 
difficulties. The year of '57 was tolerably peaceful, 
but ever since the enemies of Kansas have endeavored 
to foist that illegal and odious instrument, the Le- 
compton Constitution, on the unwilling freemen of 
Kansas, our history has been one long succession of 
wrongs and outrages, practiced by the ruffians of the 
border on the peaceful, inoffensive settlers of Kansas. 
One of my brothers, who acted as sort of a minister for 
the congregation, left early in the spring for Iowa ; 
another is making preparations to depart as soon as 
possible, but the residue have no thought of leaving, 
and no other intention, come what may, but of living 
or dying upon the soil of Kansas. 

" I once thought that all wars, whether defensive 



A Night on Mine Creek. 117 

or otherwise, were unjustiJ&able, but since living in the 
Territory, and seeing what I have witnessed, my feel- 
ings have undergone a change, and whether it is right 
in the sight of the All-wise Jehovah or not, it now 
seems right to me to defend our lives and our families 
by any means in our power that may best effect our 
object. My brothers, however, could not persuade 
themselves into this mode of thinking, and hence have 
left the Territory until belter days shall dawn on per- 
secuted Kansas." 

After the old man had finished his narration, I took 
my turn in standing guard, which brought the time 
to midnight, w^hen I returned and stretched myself on 
one of the rude benches to obtain a few hours' slum- 
ber. The night was sultry, and the fire which had 
been kindled in the early part of the evening, had long 
gone down, and died away to ashes. Towards morn- 
ing I was awakened by a severe thunder-storm — one 
of the most severe I ever witnessed. Such sharp and 
incessant lightning, and such stunning and continuous 
thunder, I never knew outside of Kansas. The wind 
too had risen with the storm, and swept among the 
scattering trees that surrounded the fortress, with a 
violence that threatened to upheave them from their 
solid foundations. It finally passed over, and when 
the sun rose it shone on a clear, unclouded heaven. 
Soon after breakfast we started for the Mound, first 



118 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

promising our friends we would send a force to assist 
them in standing guard over their settlement the com- 
ing night. We had a pleasant walk, laughing over 
the adventures that befell our journey the evening 
previous, &c., and arrived at the Mound about 10 
o'clock, a. m. 

In the afternoon one of Capt. Montgomery's men 
stopped a short time at the little grocery, on his re- 
turn from the northern part of Linn Co., where he had 
been on some business of a private character. Wish- 
ing to get some reliable information of the state of 
affairs in the neighborhood of Fort Scott, I drew him 
aside and revealed to him something of my character, 
my purposes in the Territory, &c. He told me that 
there had been no attack on Fort Scott as yet, but 
that the next day there was to be a large meeting of 
the citizens of Bourbon Co., on the Little Osage, where 
the propriety of an attack, and other important mat- 
ters would be taken into consideration. I informed 
him that 1 would attend, and he gave me some valu- 
able hints concerning my contemplated journey, after 
which he took liis departure. 

His name was John McCannon. He was an under 
officer in the company, and was one of Montgomery's 
most valued and devoted followers. His home was 
at that time on the Little Osage, but he was by birth 
a Pennsylvanian. I was pleased with his frank, open 



A Night on Mine Cresh. 119 

countenance, and bold, manly bearing at our first in- 
terview ; and I now know from weeks and even months 
of almost constant association with him, that among 
all the noble spirits of Kansas, who have freely peril- 
ed their lives in her behalf, she owns not a nobler 
heart than that which throbs in the form of young 
McCannon. 



i 



120 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight 



CHAPTER X. 

THE POLITICAL CONVENTION. 

" Justice is lame, as well as blind among us, 
The laws corrupt to their ends that make them, 
Serve but for instruments of some new tyranny, 
That every day upstart to enslave us deeper." 

Otway's Venice Preserved. 

The morning of the 29 th of May was one of al- 
most unrivaled brilliancy. A severe storm durmg 
the night had purified the atmosphere^ and given an 
additional lustre to the glow and richness of the 
prairie and woodland. I left the little grocery at an 
early hour of the morning, and following the stage- 
road to Fort Scottj I crossed the Mound which lies 
due south of the embryo village hitherto alluded to, 
and came out on the higher plain beyond just as the 
sun rose above the green slopes of the undulating 
prairie that stretched wave-like away to the verge of 
the eastern horizon. I had started thus early as I in- 
tended performing the journey on foot, and I wished 
to have sufficient time at my disposal to enjoy the 
magnificent scenery through which I passed without 



The Political Convention. 121 



fear of being too late for the assembling of the Conven- 
tion. Between Sugar Mound and the Little Osage 
there are two small streams of water, although the 
distance from the Mound to the place of meeting does 
not exceed twelve miles. These streams are heavily 
fringed on their banks with timber for the width of 
about a half mile ; the inter\^enin2: distance beins: 
prairie, of the richest and most productive quality. 
The country was but thinly settled, and but a small 
portion of the land was- even claimed, except along 
the streams where the dense woodland had been the 
feature of attraction in the eyes of the emigrant. 

As the sun mounted the heaven the day grew warm 
and sultry, and just before arriving at Loss Creek, a 
tributary of the Little Osage, I paused at a way-side 
spring to obtain a draught of its cool, delicious water, 
and rest a few minutes from my journey. The spring 
was at the head of a small ravine which gradually in- 
creased in width and depth as it receded towards Loss 
Creek. A short distance from the spring I noticed 
some strawberries hanging temptingly from the vines, 
and approaching them, I commenced plucking tlie 
luscious fruit, wandering as I did so further ajid fur- 
ther down the ravine, where they appeared to grow 
more luxuriantly than where I at first beheld them. 
While thus engaged I had insensibly wandered about 

half the distance from the spring to Loss Creek, and 

6 



122 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

was just returning to the stage-road satiated with the 
blood-red fruit I was trampling under foot, when I 
heard a noise as of some animal near me, and looking 
around I saw a large prairie wolf bound from a fissure 
in some rocks in the side of the ravine near me, and 
run rapidly towards Loss Creek. 

Surprise for a moment kept me motionless, but re- 
covering almost immediately, I drew my revolver from 
my pocket, and taking a hurried aim, fired at the al- 
most flying animal. It did not fall, although I could 
perceive by its unsteady onward motion that it had re- 
ceived the ball3 and aiming again, I despatched an- 
other leaden messenger, which brought the animal to the 
earth. I approached it, but finding that it was almost 
dead, I returned to the place from which it emerged 
when I first beheld it. There was quite an aperture 
in the rocks, and looking in I could see in the fur- 
thest recesses of the cavern, four shining sparks — the 
eyes of the two young whelps of the old wolf I shot. 
I blocked up the mouth of the cavern with loose stones, 
and proceeded on my journey, until I arrived at the 
house of the nearest settler, to whose romping boys I 
told the story, and who, scarcely waiting for me to 
give the necessary particulars, quickly started with 
laugh and shout for the place where I had secured the 
little prisoners. 

Crossing Loss Creek, I continued on and arrived at 



The Political Convention. 123 

the pkce about 11 a. m. Quite a number of settlers 
had collected, but as many who were expected at the 
meeting resided at a great distance, the time appoint- 
ed for the organization of the Convention was not until 
1 o'clock p. m. The place at which the meeting was 
called was Kaysville, a small town on the south bank 
of the Little Osage, some eighteen or twenty miles 
north of Fort Scott. It was located in '57, by three 
brothers of the name of Ra}^, from the State of Iowa. 
They erected a large steam-mill the same year, and 
immediately commenced the laying out and building 
up of the town which bears their name. They are 
enthusiastically Free State, and the town has taken 
its tone and character, as well as name from its found- 
ers. It is the political antipode of Fort Scott, and 
for the past eighteen months has been its most for- 
midable oj^ponent. There is not a town in all South- 
ern Kansas whose history has been so thoroughly in- 
terwoven with the history of that portion of the Ter- 
ritory as the town of Raysville. Indeed there has 
scarcely a movement emanated from the Free State 
party of Southern Kansas, but what Raysville has 
been directly or indirectly concerned therein ; and all 
last winter and spring, while the surrounding country 
was overrun by the guerrillas of Fort Scott, and the 
hopes of the long persecuted settlers of emerging from 
the gloom that overhung the land were faintest ; in 



124 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

tlie town of Kaysville and along the Osage river set- 
tlements, the standard of freedom was kept ever un- 
furled ; and the hardy settlers, aided by, the strong- 
arm of a Montgomery, and a Bayne, had been able, 
even during the darkest hours of their history, to 
make their river a barrier to the further progress of 
the guerrillas of the Fort. 

The time between my arrival and the organizing of 
the Convention, I employed in mingling among the 
assembled settlers, who collected in knots were earnest- 
ly conferring with each other on the alarming state 
of the Territory. A murder had been commit- 
ted the night before in the neighborhood of Fort Scott 
by some of the outlaws harboring in the town and 
Fort, vrhere it was positively known some of the lead- 
ing ruffians in the massacre of the Marais des Cygnes 
were publicly making their residence ; and fierce and 
bitter were the denunciations of the settlers on their 
olden oppressors — the citizens and soldiers of Fort 
Scott. All the while the various desultory conversa- 
tions were*going forward, fresh additions were being 
made to the large assemblage already in attendance, 
and when the time for the organization of the Conven- 
tion arrived, judging by the mass of faces, and the 
number of horses picketed over the prairie, there must 
have been at least two hundred men in the town of 
Kaysville. This number may appear small to some 



The Political Convention. 125 

of my eastern readers who are accustomed to associate 
the term of mass-convention with the turn-out of 
thousands, hut in a thinly settled country like South- 
ern Kansas, it is a cause of more than ordinary moment 
that draws together two hundred of its settlers, espe- 
cially at such a time as that of which I write, when 
many had been intimidated into leaving the Territory. 
The Convention assembled in a large, unfinished 
frame building, and not only was the interior of the 
structure packed to its utmost capacity, but scores 
and scores of the hardy pioneer settlers of Bourbon Co. 
were congregated around the building unable to ob- 
tain admittance. The Convention was organized by 
appointing J. C. Burnet of Little Osage, Chairman, 
who was assisted by the usual number of officers. — 
The call for the Convention was then read, which stated 
in a few words that the exigencies of the moment de- 
manded a Convention of the citizens of Bourbon Co., 
to devise means best calculated to restore peace to 
Southern Kansas, and avert the storm which menaced 
their lives, their homes, and their families. After 
the call was read, a committee of seven was appointed 
to draw up resolutions expressive of the sense of the 
meeting. While the committee were out, the resolu- 
tions of the Fort Scott Convention held a few days pre- 
vious, ostensibly for the same purpose, but in reality a 
hogus off OAT, were taken up and handled without 
gloves by some of the delegates present. 



126 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight, 

Judge Williams, of the third judicial district, re- 
siding in Fort Scott, had promised attendance at the 
Convention, but as he had rendered himself particu- 
larly obnoxious to the people of the district by his 
one-sided, pro-slavery decisions, he doubtless thought 
he would be safer under the guns of the Fort, than 
among the free settlers of the Osage whom he had so 
wronged by his Jeffrey-like decisions, and accordingly 
sent an excuse of ignorance of the meeting for his 
non-attendance. 

The apology, when submitted by one of the dele- 
gates from the Fort to the Convention, created fre- 
quent and long-continued bursts of laughter, and when 
the merriment had somewhat subsided, the secretary 
of the meeting, T. B. Jackman, a settler on the Osage, 
and as jovial and merry a wight, and yet withal as 
bold and daring in time of actual danger, as ever left 
the land of the Pilgrims for a home in Kansas, arose 
to his feet, and in a short, pithy speech to the Con- 
vention, completely showed up the falsity of the 
Judge's excuse ; stating that he himself was in Fort 
Scott the early part of the week, waited on his Judge- 
ship, read him the call just read to the Convention, 
and received from him the most positive assurances of 
his attendance at the meeting on the day in the call 
stated. 

" This," said the indignant Jackman, waxing warm 



Tlie Political Convention. 127 



with liis narration, ^4s the simple truth of the matter, 
as I have proof present to confirm m j words if needed, 
and Judge Williams, in sending the message he did 
to this Convention, wilfully stated what he knew was 
false, and could be proven as such. No, Judge Wil- 
liams is afraid to meet the injured settlers of the 
Osage face to face, and sends this namhy, pamby, ly- 
ing message as an excuse for not doing so ! I can hon- 
or a man who has the courage to be at all times an 
out-spoken enemy, but for such a man as Judge Wil- 
liams, who, while clothedin judicial ermine, has made 
all possible use of that dignity and power, to pervert 
the ends of justice, and crush out freedom from the 
land ; making of law a mockery ; and yet all the 
while hypocritically professing to iva7it to cvJtivate an 
acquaintance with the people he so studiously and 
carefully avoids^ I have no respect, and T care not if 
he knows it \" 

After Jackman, whose sentiments seemed to have 
met the cordial approval of the meeting, had resumed 
his seat, a lull occurred in the Convention, caused by 
its waiting the momentarily expected resolutions ; and 
while it is in a state of expectancy, let us take a glance 
at some of the chief notables of this strangely gath- 
ered, strangely composed Southern Kansas Conven- 
tion. 

Yonder tall and finely proportioned man, seated a 



128 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight. 

short distance from the Chairman, clad in a garb of 
dingy gray, with a serious, thoughtful expression on 
his dark, but finely formed " features, partially hidden 
by a pair of jet-black whiskers and thick moustache ; 
with deep-set eyes, keen and piercing, and with dark 
hair waving back from a broad, high forehead, the 
whole look and j)hysiognomy of the man denoting one 
greatly above the ordinary, and fitted for deeds of dar- 
ing ; is the Hero of the Little Osage and Marmaton, 
the terror of South- Western Missouri border-counties 
— Capt. Montgomery. He is hereon this occasion, an 
invited speaker, and as he sits there buried in thought, 
the occasional lifting of that coal-black eye that seems 
to pierce your inmost soul at a glance, or the right 
hand wandering as by habit to the revolver at his belt, 
is the only outward indication of the existence of that 
mighty power which has made the name of Montgom- 
ery familiar as a household word. 

Yonder burly six-footer, leaning carelessly against 
a corner post of the building, hatless and coatless, his 
position displaying his brawny muscular developments 
to the best advantage ; with a careless, good-humored 
expression on his sun-burnt, bearded face, and with 
hair slightly tinged with gray brushed carelessly away 
from a broad but not high forehead, is the faithful 
coadjutor of Montgomery in his deeds of daring, the 
celebrated Capt. Bayne. Between the two the most 



The Political Convention. 129 

perfect confidence exists. Bayne yields to Montgom- 
ery's judgment in all things, content to execute the 
tasks assigned him for execution by his leader, and 
when he fails to accomplish a thing you may know it 
is beyond the power of man to accomplish it. 

Standing by the only door leading in and out of the 
building is a young man who has just affected his en- 
trance. He is apparently not more than eight-and- 
twenty, small, and rather effeminate looking, and an 
air of general listlessness and indifference sits upon 
him as he runs his eye carelessly over the Convention. 
A stranger to him would at once pronounce him to be 
one of the most ordinary and inert of men, incapable of 
performing anything requiring energy and promptness 
of thought and action. Yet such a judgment would 
be just the reverse of the truth. That eye, apparent- 
ly glancing so carelessly over the variously composed 
assemblage, takes in everything worthy of note at a 
glance, and that form leaning so languidly against the 
partition, a hundred perilous situations have unmis- 
takably demonstrated, contains a heart as brave and 
gallant as any throbbing around him. The Coilven- 
tion, unknown to but few, contained in the young man 
described the High Sheriff of Douglas county, Deputy 
United States Marshal Walker. The object of his 
visit I well knew, and so will ere long the reader, but 
to return for the present to the proceedings of the 
Convention. 6* 



130 Kansas m Eighteen Fifty-EigTit, 

The committee came in and reported they could not 
agree upon resolutions, and asked to be discharged, 
which request was granted by the Chairman. It ap- 
peared that there were one or two conservatives on 
the committee, who kept continually objecting to the 
resolutions offered by the various members comprising 
it, and hence the result. After some discussion the 
idea of appointing another Committee was abandoned, 
and the Convention resolved itself into a Co7nmittee of 
the Whole on the State of Ka^isas^ giving to all who 
desired an opportunity to express themselves by speech 
to the Convention. Quite a number embraced the 
privilege, and the speeches generally would compare 
favorably with those delivered at any Eastern Con- 
vention I ever attended. Indeed, judging by some 
of the requisites of oratory, earnestness of delivery, 
effect produced, etc., they were even superior. Some 
of the descriptions of the indignities and outrages 
perpetrated by the troops and citizens of Fort Scott, 
on the peaceful settlers of the Territory, were shock- 
ing in the extreme. Partially prepared as I was be- 
fore going to Bourbon Co. for what I might see and 
hear on my arrival, I was fairly astounded at some of 
the revelations of the settlers on the Osage and Mar- 
maton rivers, which revealed a darker page in the 
gloomy history than I ever imagined could have oc- 
curred ; and nothing but the truth-convincing man- 



The Political Convention. 131 



ner in wliich it was spoken, and the matter-of-fact 
way in which it was received, could have persuaded 
me of its truth. One of the most masterly expositions 
of the outrages perpetrated by the troops and guerril- 
las of the Fort, and the abuses of their system of 
jurisprudence by Judge Williams, was made by a 
settler by the name of Griffith, a Eew Englander by 
birth, and for many years a professor in one of the 
Eastern Colleges. No one could listen to his calm, 
unimpassioned narration of the grossest and most un- 
provoked outrages without feeling impressed by 
their truthfulness, and wdien after a long enumeration 
of the grievances they had sustained ; the almost 
nightly murders that had been committed, and the 
sneers and insults they had time and again received 
when they had petitioned for redress and protection to 
the civil authorities ; he wound up with saying that 
he had no confidence in the laivs, or in Judge Wil- 
liams of Fort Scott, and that ^^eace man as he ivas, 
he would carry the revolver until their tvro7igs loere 
redressed aiid justice done them ; — the look of deter- 
mination that his face wore convinced his hearers that 
his resolution was one that had been carefully consid- 
ered, and would be strictly fulfilled. 

Towards the close of the meeting an elderly man by 
the name of Kimberlin made a brief speech, which 
from its dissimilarity to the others I will present the 



132 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-EigU. 

reader with a brief synopsis. Kimberlia was a minis- 
ter of the Methodist denomination, a peace man in 
every respect, but he was ardently Free State in prin- 
ciple, and, from maldng his home on the Marmaton 
the resort of Montgomery whenever that officer choose 
to avail himself of the proffered shelter, with whom 
he was very intimate, he had become quite obnoxious 
to the gentry of the Fort, who in order to get him 
in their power finally issued a writ for his arrest on 
some trumped up charge of murder. On several dif- 
ferent occasions they attempted to execute the writ, 
and once were only prevented from arresting him by 
the heroic conduct of his only daughter, a young lady 
of about seventeen, who, on seeing them approach, 
prevailed on her sire to secrete himself from observa- 
tion, and snatching up the musket that stood in the 
corner of the room, and boldly confronting her foe at 
the door way, she told them that the first man that 
advanced a step further would advance on certain 
death. Awed by her courage, and perhaps struck by 
her filial devotion to her father, the ruffians, after a 
few threats of violence, which she heard with unmoved 
composure, slowly and unwillingly retreated from the 
dwelling, and by the heroism of the daughter tbe 
father was saved. The idea, however, that he, a min- 
ister, a dispenser of God's holy word, should have this 
brand of shame pursuing his steps, and be forced to flee 



The Political Convention. 133 

liis fellow-men, preyed greatly on his mind, as will be 
seen by the following words : — 

" My friends ! I feel that I must say a few words 
on this occasion. I am to-day branded with the 
charge of murder. Men are dogging my steps to ar- 
rest me and have me taken to Fort Scott, where after 
a mock trial the mark of Cain would doubtless be af- 
fixed to my brow. What have I done ? Of what 
have I been guilty ? Nothing ! — The babe unborn' 
is not more guiltless of murder than I. There is 
nothing in me that could resjoond to such an act. — 
The blood of an assassin flows not in my veins. My 
grandfather was a Capt. under Gen. George Washing- 
ton, and my father was a Capt. under Gen. Anthony 
Wayne, and their bones and ashes lie to-day an eternal 
honor to their country ; and do you think I, their de- 
scendant, could or would be guilty of murder ? — No, 
1 am above it ! And it almosts breaks my heart to 
think that my name will go back to Indiana, w^here 
I was born, and where I was reared, coupled with 
the charge of murder." 

The crowning speech of the day, however, judging 
both by its intrinsic worth, and by its effect upon the 
assemblage, was Capt. Montgomery's, who at the vo^ 
ciferous and not-to-be-denied calls of the masses, ma(Ie 
the closing speech before the Convention. The un- 
bounded popularity of Capt. Montgomery in Southern 



134 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

Kansas would insure attention to whatever he might 
utter, even if he possessed a poor delivery ; but fluent 
and even eloquent as he is in public speaking, he car- 
ries the feelings of his hearers with him almost at 
pleasure whenever he addresses himself to them. 

The greater portion of his remarks were devoted to 
giving a full exposition of the principles by which he 
and his company were strictly governed, and wjdiich, 
he observed, although unjustifiable in a country where 
laws were regularly formed and administered, became 
strictly justifiable in a land where the law was not 
the legitimate offspring of the people, but was an iU 
legitimate and a bastardy and where even that spuri- 
ous imitation was expounded by the corrupt and ser- 
vile tools of a hostile and designing Administration. 
Towards the close of his remarks, he said : — 

• ^' The troops I have the honor to command are of 
the order called ^ guerrilla,' and are bound by the 
rules of strict guerrilla warfare. We make not, as 
falsely charged, a war upon all who differ with us po- 
litically, but only on those who have been and are 
warring upon our people. The quiet, peaceable Pro- 
Slavery man has nothing to fear from us ; he may re- 
main among us, and enjoy his political opinions un- 
molested. We will protect, and have protected him 
in his rights. Two of my nearest neighbors are Pro- 
Slavery men, yet they have lived by me for years and 



The Political Convention. 135 

have never been disturbed. But the violent Pro- 
Slavery man who will not give us the country we have 
fairly conquered, but still continues to molest, disturb, 
and kill the peaceable settlers ; we go to and say to 
him, this country is ours ; you and I have fought 
which shall have it, and we have fairly conquered you, 
and mean to have it. In so many days you must leave 
it. And as the idea of ^ guerrilla ' is self-sustaining, 
we also say, if you have any money, we must have 
some of it, and if you have any horses, we must have 
them for service, etc. Yet I am very careful not 
to allow my men to take from any but persons of this 
description. If they do, I expel them immediately 
from my company, and restore the articles to their 
rightful possessors. I never allow an outrage to be 
committed on a woman. Whatever she claims, no 
matter who or what her husband may be, is sacred. 
If I have ever taken life, it has been in the heat of 
battle, and my men are strictly prohibited from taking 
life in any other manner. I did say in a moment of 
excitement, while standing over the dead bodies of the 
men killed at that terrible massacre of the Marais des 
Cygnes, that for every dead man laying on the ground 
reddened with his blood, I would require ten of his 
assassins, and for every wounded man I would have 
five, but in a short time that feeling passed away, I 
reflected that man was not to be the avenger, that 



136 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

that was an attribute of the Divinity alone, and that 
He had said, ' As a man sows, so shall he reap/ and 
' as he metes, so shall it be meted unto him again.' " 

He then turned his attention to one Stratton, a 
sham Free State lawyer, from Fort Scott, who, in a 
carefully prepared speech, had counseled the people 
to pursue a course of " masterly inactivity," to have 
full confidence in the bogus laws, the expounding of 
them by Judge Williams, &c. ; and by a series of 
questions and the testimony of witnesses, completely 
laid bare the hypocrisy of the pretended Free State 
attorney to the Convention, that fairly roared with 
laughter on hearing Stratton convicted of having said, 
a short time previous, in Fort Scott, that he hoped 
Kansas would be a slave State, so that he could own 
a lot of niggers. After sufficiently flaying poor Strat- 
ton, Montgomery dropped him as unworthy of further 
notice, merely remarking that there were a great many 
recent converts to Free Stateism, and that Mr. Strat- 
ton was probably one of them. 

After he concluded his remarks, three cheers were 
proposed and given for Capt. Montgomery, the Hero 
of Southern Kansas, and three groans for Judge Wil- 
liams and the ruffians of Fort Scott, when the Conven- 
tion adjourned. 

As soon as possible after adjournment, the object of 
Sheriff Walker's visit South was communicated to the 



The Political Convention. 137 

boySj which was, viz., to arrest some of the murderers 
harboring in the Fort, for whom he had writs, etc.; 
and I saw more than one cap swung aloft on receipt of 
the joyful intelligence that a visit to Fort Scott was 
once more in contemplation. As it was essential to 
the success of the expedition, that the Fort gentry 
should be kept in ignorance of our intentions until the 
proper time for their enlightenment, the preparations 
for our departure the next morning by day-break, went 
on quietly until all was completed. The plan agreed 
upon by Walker and the leading citizens of Bourbon 
Co., was for him to stay over night at Kaysville, and 
start with all the horsemen he could raise (which was 
estimated at at least two score,) early in the morning, 
and ride to • the Marmaton, v>^here there would be a 
reinforcement of boys to accompany the posse from 
there to the Fort. This was in pursuance with the 
request sent to Walker, that if he would come to 
Bourbon Co., the signers of the petition would pledge 
him a sufficient posse of settlers, to make the arrest in 
contemplation. 

The open-hearted brothers Eay had provided liberal- 
ly for the Convention, and with their noted hospitality 
threw open their houses to all who saw fit to remain 
in the town during the night. I accej)ted the invita- 
tion of L Kay, and found myself in company with 

Sheriff Walker, young McCannon, etc. The evening 



138 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

passed away pleasantly in listening to Sheriff Walker's 
thrilling narrations of the borcler-ruffian invasions in 
'55-Q, of the northern portion of the Territory, which, 
at the solicitation of the company, he was induced to 
give, winding up with a humorous description of his 
ferreting out the election returns last winter, that had 
been secreted under the wood-pile at Lecompton, by 
John C. Calhoun, of candle-box notoriety. 

Suddenly I missed young McCannon, and inquired 
of several his whereabouts ; none appeared to know 
what had become of him, and I knew not until the next 
day, that while we slept that night, Bayne, McCan- 
non, and half a score of men, in obedience to the order 
of their chieftain, were steadily riding southward 
over the prairie, amid the darkness and storm that 
raged all throughout the latter part of the night, to 
gain a position against day-break, betv/een Fort Scott 
and the Missouri line. 



The March on Fort Scott . 139 



CHAPTEE XL 

THE MARCH ON FORT SCOTT. 

" ! thou, Almighty ! awful and supreme ! 
Redress, revenge an injured nation's wrongs." 

Martyn's Timoleon. 

The next morning tlie inhabitants of the little town 
of Raysville were early astir, and although the storm 
which had raged all throughout the latter part of the 
night, had by no means subsided, the preparations for 
our departure were urged as rapidly as possible to 
completion. There were quite a number of vexatious 
delays ; horses, saddles, &c., w^ere to be procured, 
which rapidly consumed time, and when at last the 
preparations were announced as fully completed, it 
was found that the little posse, instead of numbering 
two score of men, barely mustered one, all told, and 
this small complement only procured by enlisting every 
man capable of bearing arms that could be found 
around the place. 

Whether the poor turn out of the settlers was at- 
tributable to their conscientious scruples about break- 



140 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-EigJit. 

iiig the Sabbath an imperative necessity compelled us 
to violatej or to a sober second thought that the day 
might not prove a day of pleasure to the expedition, 
I know notj but certain it is, no more appeared, and 
after waiting long beyond the time agreed on for de- 
linnuent comrades, we rode out of the town and struck 
the broad Indian trail leading from the Osage to the 
Marmaton. Faster and faster fell the spring rain, 
drenching us through and through and blinding our 
view of the prairie ahead, but lightly and gayly in his 
trooper-saddle rode our leader, the cool, intrepid 
Walker, and stimulated and encouraged by his ex- 
ample, not one of the little posse would have turned 
his back on Fort Scott even though he had been as- 
sured that certain danger lay in his onward path. A 
novel spectacle we must have presented to the gazers 
of the few scattering settlers' cabins we passed in our 
ride that stormy Sabbath morning. The slouched 
hats, the dripping clothing, the partially concealed 
weapons, to prevent the rain from unfitting them for 
use, all combined to present a picture ludicrous in the 
extreme. The appearance of some of the members of 
the little company was extremely mirth-provoking. 
Jackman (one of the speakers at the Convention the 
day previous) was particularly an object of diversion. 
Mounted on a mule, which he had picked up on the 
prairie, his little figure looked even more diminutive 



The March on Fort Scott 141 

than when dismounted^ and the speeches he made, and 
the capers he cut for our diversion during our journey, 
I would not attempt to repeat or describe. He w^as 
indeed a being gifted with versatile accomplishments. 
I have seen him when I have thought the buffoon or 
jester must certainly have been his chief study, so well 
he played his part — when there appeared to be no 
pride or self-respect about the man, and no higher 
ambition in him than to make mirth for those around 
him. And again I have seen him in time of danger, 
or in the rostrum when the whole man was so metam- 
orphosed, it seemed almost impossible to realize that 
the harlequin, the warrior, and the orator, were one 
and the same. He was a man of profound acquire- 
ments, a thorough classical scholar, and at that time 
a regular correspondent for one or more leading papers 
in New England. 

A hard gallop of two hours brought us to the Mar- 
maton, where we found about an equal number of men 
awaiting our arrival. But an unforeseen difficulty 
had arisen. Swollen by the still falling rain, the 
Marmaton rushed swiftly by ; its deep and wide cur- 
rent forming an impassable barrier between our horses 
and the Fort. AYhat was to be done ? There was 
an old Indian canoe in the stream, but it would con- 
tain but two beside the one to guide its course, which 
would make the transit extremely tedious, and we 



142 Kansas in Eighteen FifUj-Eiglit. 

would then be five miles from the Fort, a long walk 
for men minsed to such exercise. On the border of the 
stream a deliberative council was convened. Among 
the more prominent of the settlers, I noticed several 
of the speakers at the C(Uivention the day previous, 
Griffith, Kimberlin, etc. There was a great diversity 
of opinion as to the best course to pursue. Many said 
wait until morning. Walker stood apart with knit 
and gloomy brow. I was near him and heard him 
mutter, " 0, for a score of the Lawrence boys !" At 
that moment so sorely vexed was our leader with the 
indecision of the party, thai I believe he had lost all 
confidence in our reliability in time of danger. 

"What is your opinion, Walker.?" was finally 
asked. 

" When a boy at school I was taught that delays 
are dangerous" was the sententious reply. 

In just an hour from that moment, at one o'clock, 
p. m., we were in marcliing order on the Fort Scott 
side of the stream. The passage consumed rather less 
time than was expected, in consequence of a number 
of the company swimming the swollen river, leaving 
their clothes to be transported by the boat. After 
crossing the river, which I did in the manner last 
stated, and while seated on the bank watching the 
little skiff in its frequent passages to and fro, 1 saw 
approaching in the last trip of the boat, a man whose 



The March on Fort Scott 143 

features^ even at a distance, looked strangely familiar 
to me. He was dressed with an obvious desire for 
concealment. A large Spanish hat was slouched over 
his face, and the shawl in which he was enveloped was 
muffled close around him, but as he drew near some- 
thing arrested his attention ; he looked up and I 
caught his eye — that eye I should have known from a 
thousand — and I knew it vras Capt. Montgomery. As 
Marshal Walker bore with him a writ for the arrest 
of Capt. Montgomery on charge of murder, it was 
deemed advisable by his friends for him to keej) en- 
tirely from the presence of Walker, so that officer 
would not be under the unpleasant necessity of mak- 
ing any attempt at an arrest he plainly saw, in the 
existing state of feeling, would prove utterly impossi- 
ble ; but the daring, adventurous spirit of Mont- 
gomery could not brook the idea of an expedition per- 
forming a task of danger in which he shared not the 
peril, and hence in the disguise stated he joined the 
posse. 

When within a short distance of the Fort, and while 
screened from observation by some timber, the com- 
mand to halt was given, and final arrangements made 
for entering the place. After dividing the men into 
three divisions, and placing a res|)onsible man at the 
head of each. Walker said he wanted six men who 
had revolvers, to volunteer to act as his special posse, 



144 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

and if any of the men for whom lie had writs, offered 
to make the least resistance, to shoot them down im- 
mediately on his giving the word. Six men, among 
whom were Cajot. Montgomery, two or three of his de- 
voted followers, the writer, etc., simultaneously step- 
ped forward, and the march was renewed at a hurried 
step until we arrived at the tovv-n. 

In obedience to orders, each division quickly per- 
formed its task. One company surrounded Sheriff 
Hill's house, another the Pro-Slavery hotel, and the 
third the house of the notorious Clarke. So unlocked 
for was our coming, and so silently and swiftly were 
all our arrangements perfected, that the first the 
astonished denizens knew of our whereabouts, we 
were directly in their midst. The villainous Hill, ever 
on the alert, saw us on a near approach, and with the 

exclamation, " D it, they've come,'' ran out of the 

town. "Walker and his posse first proceeded to Hill's 
,h(fase and instituted a thorough search of the build- 
ing from top to bottom. Not succeeding in finding 
him, they proceeded from there to the Pro-Slavery 
hotel, (McKay's,) and j)rosecuted a like unsuccessful 
search for the guilty men. At the hotel were quite a 
number of lady boarders, who manifested great alarm 
while the search was going on, until solemnly assured 
by Walker that not the slightest indignity or insult 
should be offered to them. At the hospital Dr. Carter 



The March on Fort Scott 145 

was arrested. His young wife was present, and plead 
for him with all the eloquence her woman nature was 
capable, asseverating time and again that her husband 
was innocent of the fearful crimes with which he was 
charged ; Walker assured her that her husband would 
have a fair, impartial trial, and if innocent, as for her 
sake he hoped he was, he would be so declared and 
liberated. 

The house of the notorious Clarke was next visited, 
which had all the while been carefully guarded. The 
door was bolted, and on the refusal of its inmates to 
open it. Walker ordered the men to take the tongue 
out of a heavy camp-wagon standing in the square 
and burst the door open, which threat, before execu- 
ted, brought the garrison to terms. Just as we were 
entering, however, word was brought to Marshal 
Walker that Clarke was standing on the steps of the 
Free State Hotel. Fearing that it was a ruse to 
draw him away from the scent of the villian, Walker 
took only his special posse, leaving the house strong- 
ly guarded. 

The information, however, proved correct. On the 
first intimation of danger, Clarke fled by a secret pas- 
sage to the Free State hotel, where he was received by 
the proprietor, whose professions of loyalty to the 
Free State cause, were afterwards received with little 
credit. Indeed the only thing Free State about it at 



146 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 



tliat time was its name, which the settlers afterwards 
dropped in speaking of it. On finding that he must . 
inevitably he discovered, he came in front of the ho- 
tel, and began to make arrangements with his friends, 
from whom he had received encouragement of support^ 
for a forcible resistance to the authority of Marshal 
Walker. Walker stepped up to him as he stood on 
the steps of the hotel, and handed him the writ 
against him, at the same time calling on him to sub- 
mit himself to the law. This, after glancing over it, 
on pretence that the writ was informal, the villian re- 
fused to do. Again he was called upon to submit 
himself, and again, encouraged by his ruffian support- 
ers around him, he defied arrest. The blood of 
Walker on seeing before him the murderer of his dear- 
est friend in by-gone times, the mai-tyred Barber, in 
a defiant attitude to the laws he had a hundred times 
outraged, was fearfully aroused. Stepping back a few 
paces, in a clear, ringing tone he gave the order for the 
whole posse to approach. ^' Form into a line and 
make ready," was his next coolly-uttered command. 
In an instant, almost, avq stood, some thirty of us, in 
a line ready to fire at the word of our leader upon the 
bravado Clarke and his allies. It was a critical mo- 
ment ! — In front of us were Clarke and his ruffian 
sr^porters, all of vrham were heavily armed, although 
eome of them partially concealed their weapons ; and 



The 3Iarc7i on Fort Scott 147 

in our rear, at the Pro-Slavery hotel, were at least a 
dozen of the same sort of gentry, all heavily armed 
with carbines and revolvers. In everything but num- 
bers they were greatly our superiors. They were bet- 
ter armed than our men who had but few rifles, or re- 
volvers, being mostly armed with old muskets and 
shot-guns ; and they had the advantage of position, 
having their houses to retreat into if needed, &c. When 
the men had formed into a line, Walker once more 
approached Clarke, and in a tone that carried convic- 
tion with it, said : — 

" Clarke, I can trifle with you no longer ! You 
know me, and you know that I never undertake any- 
thing but I go through with it, and this writ I hold 
in my hand must be executed, cost what it may to do 
it. Give yourself up this instant, or I will order my 
men to fire V 

Before the forming of the men into line, and the 
last resolute words of Walker, not a sign of backing- 
dov/n, or yielding, did I see on the part of one of 
Clarke's ruffian supporters. On the contrary, they 
commenced arming themselves more fully, despatch- 
ing agents to the Fort for weapons, &c.; and more 
than once I heard Clarke told by these desperadoes 
not to submit himself and they would see him' through. 
Bat the firmly spoken words of Marshal Walker, and 
the cool, deteriiiined manner in which our men wheeled 



148 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

into line and boldly faced tlieir foe, began to produce 
its effect. They saw that the posse was not to be de- 
terred from its purpose by their bravado, and they be- 
gan to tremble for the consequence. Some of the 
more timid soon commenced counseling Clarke to sub- 
mit himself on condition that Sheriff Walker would 
allow him to be tried in Fort Scott. This Clarke at 
first would not hear to, but finding that the courage 
of his allies was fast oozing out, and that he would 
shortly be left with but few supporters, he made a 
virtue of necessity , and with an ill grace surrendered 
himself to the determined Walker, and was handed 
over to Marshal Smith, who already had Dr. Carter in 
custody, for safe keeping until a trial could be ordered. 
Hill ran towards the line until he found it guarded, 
when he returned and gave himself up to Marshal 
Smith. 

When Marshal Walker first entered the town, he 
called on the citizens of the place to assist in the ar- 
rest of the murderers for whom he had writs, but not 
a man dared to obey the summons. There were a few 
who would have liked to have joined the posse, but 
prudence, and the fear of a mobbing by their fellow- 
. townsmen, restrained them from so doing. Comment 
is unnecessary. The reader can judge for himself how 
much claim the citizens of Fort Scott at that time 
had to the title of law-abiding citizens, when the sum- 



The March on Fort Scott. 149 

mons of a high official to assist him in maintaining the 
majesty of the law, was answered by having rifles 
and revolvers arrayed against him, and by having the 
murderer whom he is desirons of arresting, told not to 
submit himself, and they tuould see him through. 

After leaving the town and getting about a mile on 
our homeward journey, we were overtaken by Marshals 
Smith and Walker, Marshal Walker having been de- 
tained in the town a short period after our departure. 
The object of Marshal Smith in following us we soon 
learned. Capt. Montgomery had been recognized in 
the Fort, and a writ for his arrest hastily executed, 
and placed in Sheriff Walker's hands for his immedi- 
ate apprehension. Walker said he did not believe 
that the men comprising the posse would allow him 
to be taken from them, but he would do what he could 
in the discharge of his duty ; and Marshal Smith, in 
his neiuly awakened zeal to see lorits executed^ had 
accompanied him to see if he faithfully fulfilled the 
obligations incumbent on him. 

Marshal Walker took Montgomery a little apart 
from the men, and communicated to him the exact 
condition of things, closing by saying that it would 
be his unpleasant duty to attempt his arrest. Mont- 
gomery assured him that he would make no resistance 
to the majesty of the law — that he had never done 
anything for which he feared a trial before a jury of 



150 Kansas in Eigldeen Fifty-EigTit. 

his peers — and that he would cheerfully accompany 
him to Lecompton^ &c. 

They then returned to the posse, and briefly ac- 
quainting the company with the existence of the writ, 
Montgomery dispossessed himself of his -weapons, hand- 
ing his rifle to one, his revolvers to another, his hunt- 
ing knife to a third, and quietly gave himself up a 
prisoner to Sheriff Walker. One murmur of indigna- 
tion burst from the men, and short-lived would have 
been the arrest of Montgomery, had he not himself 
positively forbid their interference. 

Marshal Smith had by this, time approached the 
posse, and demanded in a pompous tone if Capt. 
Montgomery was present. 

"I am that person/' said Montgomery, stepping 
forward so as to confront him, " your pleasure, sir/' 

For a moment the assurance of the pompous Mar- 
shal forsook him, as his eyes fell before the penetra- 
ting gaze of the cool, self-possessed man before him ; 
but it was not his nature to be long impressed by 
worth, or nature's nobility, and he shortly re-commen- 
ced, but in a slightly altered tone : — 

" I have heard of you, (a bow from Montgomery), 
I have heard a great deal of bad about you, (another 
bow,) ond I hope you have given yourself up in good 
f;ii til, and will stand your trial as a law-abiding citizen 
should, and quietly acquiese in the decision of the 



TJiG 3Iarch on Fort Scott. 151 



court. You must be sensible you have done a great 
deal of mischief. Here in Fort Scott we are a law- 
loving and law-abiding people. I never was in a place 
where there was such peace, such quietude and sociabil- 
ity, and we are very sorry that you have plunged the 
country into such a distracted condition/' etc. 

It was amusing to watch the smile, half scora, half 
contempt, that wreathed the lips of Montgomery dur- 
ing the above childish, fulsome discourse. A few 
days previous, while he and his company were quar- 
tered at Barnsville, a small frontier town, one of his 
scouts captured and brought into camp a deputy of 
this same Marshal Smith, who was en route for Le- 
compton, charged with important packages, missions, 
etc., to the Governor. These papers were unsealed 
and read by Montgomery. One of them was of a pri- 
vate character, and spoke of matters nearest the heart 
of the great member of the Smith family. After in- 
dulging in some fierce philippics against Capt. Mont- 
gomery, the worthy Marshal therein paid his respects 
to Fort Scott, after a very diiierent fashion from that 
adopted in the conversation just narrated. He said to 
his Excellency, Gov. Denver, that he luas never in a 
place in Ms life ichere there ivas so much quarreling 
and wrangling — where there luere so many cliques and 
factions as in Fort Scott — that if old Nick got nine- 
tenths of the inhabitants he would not tlien have his 



152 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight 

due ; and unless there loas a cliange in the place, he 
woidd he compelled to throw up his appointment, etc. 

Quite a number of the citizens of the town had by 
this time joined the posse, who had heard the flatter- 
ing testimony of the Marshal, and for whose edifica- 
tion, it is fair to presume, it was chiefly dehvered. 
If James Montgomery had been as some men, how 
completely could he have turned the tables on the 
pompous Marshal A few words (which no one could 
better have expressed had he chosen to do so) con- 
vincing the Marshal that he was aware of the contents 
pf the intercepted letter previously alluded to, and 
stating its character to the collected audience, would 
not only have covered the pompous Marshal with 
confusion, but would have thrown a fire-brand in Fort 
Scott that, in all probability, would only have ended 
in the expulsion of that official from his office, in far 
less time than he hinted at withdraw^ing therefrom in 
his letter to the Governor. 

Most men in such a situation would have made 
Bome such reply, but there was too much magnanim- 
ity and greatness of soul in Montgomery to recriminate 
on the cringing, time-serving, apology for a man be- 
fore him, even when chcumstances had placed him so 
completely at his mercy. Like the falcon that dis- 
dains to fly at ignoble game, he allowed him to take 
his departure without showing up liis duplicity, which 



The Blarch on Foii; Scott 153 



forbearance, while I wondered at it, could not but 
exalt him in my estimation. 

We returned to the Marmaton about dusk that 
evening, and recrossed it in the &ame manner we 
crossed over in the morning. The night was dark, 
and threatened storm, and the members of the posse 
living on the Osage gladly availed themselves of the 
imdtations of their Marmaton friends, to remain with 
them over night ; as, in the darkness that enveloped 
the prairies, it would be almost impossible to reach 
Raysville before morning, if we undertook the journey. 
Six of us went to the cabin-home of Griffith. The 
storm broke before reaching his dwelling, and we 
were all completely drenched by the time we arrived 
and had larieted our horses for the night. A good fire 
was burning on the wide open hearth, and after sit- 
ting by it awhile, supper was announced, which, when 
eaten with gusto that only hungry men can eat, com- 
pleted our satisfaction. I asked the lady-like hos- 
tess if she did not feel almost like leaving Kansas, 
inundated as they so frequently were with such 
parties of hungry men as ourselves, and she made 
reply, "that she considered it 2i privilege rather than 
a trouble to minister to the wants of the defenders of 
Kansas." 

There was but one room in the house, but every 

thing in it looked neat and comfortable, and there 

7» 



154 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

were many little articles scattered around, that deno- 
ted the cultivated tastes of the whilom College pro- 
fessor and his wife. She inquired of her husband the 
particulars of the day's expedition, and took as much 
interest in the whole matter as any one concerned 
thereia Her husband, from being a correspondent of 
the Lawrence papers, had rendered himself obnoxious 
to the Fort gentiy, and had several times been warned 
that if he did not stop his communications concerning 
their doings, they would find a way to stop them 
themselves ; and that day in the Fort he had again 
been threatened with the most fearful consequences if 
he did not instantly cease his communications. This 
fact he communicated to his wife, and said that perhaps 
he had better suspend them for a period, until the ex- 
citement died somewhat away, lest the ruffians should 
some time in his absence wreak their vengeance on 
his family. ^ 

'' No, no !" said the wife, ^^contimie to do your du- 
ty as a man ; strike boldly and spare not ; he not 
deterred hy fears on my account from doing ivliat 
your conscience tells you is right you should do. I 
would rather a hundred times lose my life than that 
yoii shoidd ever hesitate a moment^ publicly or pri- 
vatehj, in expressing your honest sentiments" 

When the time for retiring arrived, we wrapped 
ourselves in our blankets, which we had dried by the 



Tlie March on Fort Scott 155 



fire, and consigned ourselves to slumber on some cov- 
ers which had been spread on the floor for our accom- 
modation. The storm still continued to spend its 
rage ; ' the hea\^^ roll of thunder could be heard, and 
the wind swept through the forest trees that surround- 
ed the dwellins; with almost the rush and roar of a 
tornado. We were too weary, however, to be kept 
awake long by the warring of the elements, and soon 
slumber, heavy and dead, rested on all the occupants 
of the house. 

When we awoke in the morning it was almost sun- 
rise. One of the little party went out to look after 
our horses, and soon returned with the alarming in- 
telligence that four of the six horses had broken loose, 
and were no where to be seen. The storm in the night 
had alarmed them, and in the frantic circuits of their 
tethers, they had snapped their cords and galloped 
off. Six youths were seldom in a much greater di- 
lemma. We were at least twelve miles from the Osage, 
and there was not much prospect of finding our 
horses before getting there, and a foot tramp the 
whole distance seemed almost inevitable. After eat- 
ing a hearty breakfast and thanking oiir hosts for their 
kindness, we started for the Osage, piling v/hat sad- 
dles we could on the horses remaining to the party, 
and putting the rest with forced resignation on our 
shoulders. In this manner, more ludicrouB thaB 



156 Kansas in EigUeen Fifty-Eight. 



pleasant, we journeyed some two or three miles, when 
we met a small party of our friends with our run-a- 
way horses, which they had fortunately found, and 
were returning to us. It appeared that our horses, in- 
stead of going home as we expected, had strayed to 
the farm-house where our friends were stopping, and 
who, knowing them to belong to our party, had hasten- 
ed to secure them and bring them to us. Our spirits 
revived at the welcome sight of our truant steeds, and 
we lost no time in transferring the saddles from our 
backs to the backs of our horses, and mounting there- 
on, resumed our journey with our companions. At 
Mill Creek, a stream about half way between the 
Marmaton and the Osage, we fell in company with 
Walker and the residue of the posse residing on the 
Little Osage, and we all rode on together until we ar- 
rived at Kaysville, which place we reached about 11 
o'clock, a. m. 

Shortly after our arrival, Capt. Bayne, McCannon, 
and their associates, came slowly riding in the town, 
their jaded horses seeming scarcely able to support the 
weight of their riders. They were in fine spirits, how- 
ever, and their accounts of their adventures were thril- 
ling and interesting. Their night- ride, owing to the 
storm and darkness, was slow and tedious, and more 
than once they became so bewildered they had to stop 
entirely, while the guides sought out the lost tjail, 



The March on Fort Scott. 157 

but by day-light they had gained the desired position 
in the heart of a dense timber-land, contiguous to the 
border, where they secreted themselves close to the 
road leading from Fort Scott to the Missouri line. 
Quite a number passed along in the course of the day, 
all of whom were closely scrutinized by the stern troop- 
ers as they lay in their place of concealment ; and if 
anything suspicious was detected in their appearance, 
they were instantly subjected to the closest investiga- 
tion. The sun had passed its meridian when an elder- 
ly gentleman came riding along in a one-horse buggy, 
at an easy pace, as if neither man nor steed was in a 
hurry to arrive at its destination. It was Judge Wil- 
liams of Fort Scott. The worthy Judge had by some 
means learned of Marshal Walker's proposed visit to 
the Fort, and in order to escape any unpleasant oc- 
currence that might happen, during the stay of that 
official, he concluded to make a visit to Missouri, and 
was just upon the point of executing his intention 
when introduced to the reader. Suddenly the worthy 
Judge's musings were interrupted in a manner as pe- 
culiar as unexpected. His horse's bridle reins were 
grasped by a strong hand, and two or three armed 
men pressed around the vehicle, arresting the further 
progress of both steed and traveler. Surprise for a 
moment kept the ivorthy Judge speechless, but recov- 
ering himself, he said in a voice in which there was an 
amusing blending of terror and judicial dignity : — 



158 Kansas in Eighteen Fiftij-Eight. 

" Why, boys, don't you know me ? Don't any of 
you know me ? Isn't there any one here that knows 
me ? Why, I am Judge Williams of Fort Scott, of 
the 3d judicial district ! I tell you I am — " 

Here the worthy Judge was interrupted by young 
McCannon, who told him he was well aware that he 
was Judge Williams of Fort Scott, and that was just 
the reason they had stopped him. Capt. Bayne, who 
had all the time been secreted behind some bushes, 
was so amused with the ludicrous terror of the Judge, 
that at this point he could no longer contain himself, 
and burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. At 
the sound of Bayne's merriment, Williams straighten- 
ed himself up in his buggy, and peering into the tim- 
ber in the direction of the sound, said : 

'' Is not that Capt, Bayne .?'' 

Bayne finding that he was recognized, came for- 
ward and said, " Yes, Judge Williams, it is he whom 
you are now pleased to call Capt. Bayne, but when we 
last met face to face, wliich was last winter in Fort 
Scott, it was then i\i2iipoor devil Bayne on the Osage. 
Follow me. Judge Williams, I would speak with you 
apart." 

Bayne led the way to a lonely place some two or 
three hundred yards from his men, when he halted and 
motioned to the Judge who had followed with trem- 
bling steps, to pause. What the tenor of the worthy 



Tlie March on Fort Scott, 159 

Judge's thoughts were, may be inferred from the first 
question he asked in a trembling, pleading voice : 

" You are not going to murder me, are you, Capt. 
Bayne ?" 

" No, Judge Williams, I seek not your blood ! — 
You have wronged me as deeply as a man can wrong his 
fellow-man — done it without cause or provocation — 
but your life is safe in my hands to-day. What I 
want with you is to say to you a few plain words. You 
are a scholar, Judge Williams, and I am a poor, un- 
lettered Irishman, but my feelings, my instincts, my 
natural privileges are the same as yours. Last winter 
I came before your court a suer for justice. I was 
one of the old settlers of Kansas. My claim was 
jumped by a nev\^-comer — a Missourian. I came to 
you for justice. Judge Williams ! In the face of the 
law, in the face of the evidence, you decided against 
me ; the settler of years was displaced for the settler 
of hours. But with the strong arm we reversed your 
decision on the Osage, Judge Williams ! I drove off 
the intruder, and defied the verdict opposed to law, 
and opposed to reason. Now listen to my words ! — 
You are a learned man, and you must know so simple 
a fact, that if there are no Marshals there can be no 
arrests^ and if there are no Judges there can be no 
sentences. I am not a lawless man ; honest laws, 
honestly administered, I would respect ; but if we are 



160 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight, 

to have laws expounded as they have been expounded 
the past twelve-months in your circuit court, we had 
infinitely better have no Marshals and no Judges in 
Kansas. So be warned in time, Judge Williams !" 

They retraced their steps to the vehicle, in which 
the Judge re-seated himself, and grasping the reins 
with trembling hand, drove off. So shaken were the 
nerves of the worthy Judge, however, that it took 
several days' rest in Missouri to restore his nervous 
system sufficiently to allow of his return to Fort Scott ; 
and to the latest hour of his life, I doubt not, Judge 
Williams will retain a lively recollection of his inter- 
view with Capt. Bayne in the wilderness. 

Agreeable to an understanding between the posse of 
Walker and the little force of Bayne, there was to 
have been a messenger sent from the Fort to notify 
Bayne and his company of the probable period of our 
departure, but in the hurry and confusion of the mo- 
ment it was forgotten, and the little band waited hour 
after hour in expectation of a summons to leave the 
dangerous position they occupied. None arriving, 
however, they left their position just before nightfall, 
and rode to the crossing of the Marmaton, which to 
their consternation they found so swollen that to cross 
it at that late hour of the night, by swimming their 
horses, would be highly dangerous, if not wholly im- 
possibla They rode up and down the river for some 



The March on Fort Scott 161 

time, seeking a fordable place, and at last, despairing 
of effecting their object, they retired to a ravine of 
dense timber, and encamped for the night. Had the 
gentry at the Fort known of their close vicinage, 
they would have fared but poorly, but as it was, 
their slumbers were undisturbed. In the morning 
the hardy troopers were early astir, and the Mar- 
maton by that time having slightly ftillen, they crossed 
it with some difficulty, and arrived finally at KaysviUe 
at the time and in the manner st-ated. 

Towards evening a runner from the Marmaton 
brought word that the murderers arrested in Fort 
Scott the day previous, had been released from custo- 
dy, and were running the streets of the town, without 
even having been subjected to the farce of a trial. — 
The intelligence created an intense excitement in 
Kaysville, and a messenger was instantly despatched 
to Sheriff Walker, who had gone on to Moneka, a 
town some twelve miles north of Eaysville, to acquaint 
him with the facts of the case. As soon as Walker 
learned that Marshal Smith and the civil authorities 
of the Fort had thus grossly violated their pledges ; 
with the high sense of honor inate in him, he told 
Montgomery not to consider himself under arrest 
longer ; that as the Fort Scott people had broken 
their faith, he would break his, and that he was at 
liberty to stay and/^/i^t out with them, &c. 



162 Kansas in Eig]itee7i Fifty-Eight. 

Montgomery, thus released from custody, returned 
to the Osage, and Sheriff Walker pursued his journey 
north to Lecompton. On arriving there he made a 
frank acknowledgment to the Governor, of his releas- 
ing Montgomery, and although slightly censured, was 
not otherwise dealt with for his conduct. 



€api. James Monigomery. 163 



CHAPTER XII. 

CAPT. JAMES MONTGOSIERY. 

" Our band is ffew, but true ancl tried, 

Our leader frank and bold ; 
The British soldier trembles 

When Marion's name is told. 
Grave men there are by broad Santee, 

Grave men with hoary hairs, 
Their hearts are all with Marion, 

For Marion are their prayers." 

Bryant. 

I NOW approach a task, for the accomplishment of 
which this book was chiefly commenced, and which, 
as page after page has left my hands, has grown in 
moment and magnitude as I have slowly drawn nearer 
to it. That task is the vindication of James Mont- 
gomery from some of the many calumnies that have, 
at various limes, assailed his nohle character, by a 
brief and truthful history of the more important 
events of his public and private life. The sources 
from whence I have derived the biography I shall lay 
before the reader are various ; but nothing will be 



164 Kansas in Eighteen Fiftij-EigU. 



stated of which the writer has not satisfied himself of 
its truthfulness, or is unahle to prove to the skeptical 
heyond the shadow of a doubt or cavil. 

James Montgomery is of Scotch descent. His an- 
cestry dates back to the time of the second Pretender 
to the throne of Scotland, when James Montgomery, 
a lineal ancestor of the present bearer of that name, 
was a Highland Chieftain, the head of a numerous 
Clan devotedly attached to the cause of the Preten- 
der. When that unfortunate Prince failed in his ill- 
starred enterprise, and was forced to flee the kingdom, 
the Chieftain of the Clan of Montgomery, to avoid 
the fate of the leaders of the rebellion, who were in 
numbers condemned and executed by the government, 
made his escape to Ireland, where he was shortly after 
joined by his brother and their families. The young- 
er brother remained in Ireland until his death ; but 
James, in a few years, inunigrated to America, where 
he lived the remainder of his life. The subject of this 
biography is a great grandson of the elder brother, 
and Gen. Eichard Montgomery, who fell before 
Quebec, was a son of the younger brother, residing in 
Ireland. 

James Montgomery was born in Ohio, in 1813, but 
his parents, shortly after his birth, removing to Ken- 
tucky, he was educated and reared in the latter state. 
It was there, in the " Land of Boone," w^hile a youth, 



Capt. James Montgomery. 165 

roaming the forests in pursuit of game, which even at 
that time amply repaid the toils of the chase, that 
Montgomery exercised and developed those j)owers for 
which he has, in later life, become so remarkable, and 
which enabled him to fulfill the important mission he 
so successfully accomplished. He was of a religious 
cast of mind in early life, and when quite youthful, 
joined the Campbellite church, in which religious de- 
nomination, after arriving at manhood, he was a 
regularly appointed minister. Shortly after attaining 
his majority, he married the daughter of a slave-hold- 
er, by whom he had several children. He resided in 
Kentucky until the passage of the Kansas and 
Nebraska bill, when he removed to Western Missouri, 
and as soon as Kansas was opened to emigrants, 
crossed over into the Territory, and was thus one of 
the first settlers in the disputed land of Kansas. 

He was at that time a peace man in the strictest 
sense of the term, and continued to exercise the duties 
of his sacred calling whenever an opportunity ofiered 
in which they could be employed in the sparsely set- 
tled neighborhood in which he resided. He was, 
however, in favor of making Kansas a Free State, not 
only on account of his children, whom he wished to 
educate and bring up where they would not be sur- 
rounded by the influences necessarily accompanying 
the introduction of Slarery ; but from the higher and 



166 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

more unselfish desire of seeing the rich and beautiful 
soil of Kansas uncursed by the existence of that insti- 
tution, which from long and intimate association with 
its features, he had learned to regard as both a moral 
and political evil. He sotllod in Linn Co., on the 
head of Little Sugar Creek, a tributary of the Marais 
des Cygnes, on a beautifully situated tract of land, 
partly timber and partly prairie. Linn Co., at that 
time, 1855, w^as but thinly settled, and the dominant 
element was strongly pro-slavery. Late in the fall of 
1855 there Avas a county meeting of the citizens of 
Linn Co., at the small grocery at Sugar Mound, to 
nominate candidates for county and Territorial offices. 
The day before the meeting Montgomery went to 
Missouri after some provisions for his famil}^, and on 
his return he was overtaken by a severe storm of snow 
and hail, and night setting in when he was several 
miles from home, he became bewildered on the prairie, 
and did not reach home until nearly midnight, and 
then in consequence of his being illy-prepared for such 
a sudden change in the weather, he v/as so benumbed 
with cold that he could scarcely walk from the wagon 
to the house. His ears and portions of his face were 
badly frozen, and it v/as months before he could wear 
anything but loose moccasins upon his feet. So great, 
how^ever, was his anxiety to attend the meeting allud- 
ed to, that notwithstandins: his disabled condition, he 



Capt. James Montgomery. 167 

mounted a horse the next morning, and arrived at the 
Mound just as the assembled settlers were proceeding 
to an organization of the meeting. His arrival was 
opportune. Already the leaders of the Pro- Slavery- 
party had arranged their plans, decided on their can- 
didates, etc., and were waiting but the mere form of an 
organization to complete their already concerted ar- 
rangements. The appearance of Montgomery discon- 
certed them for a moment, but confident in their su- 
periority of numbers over the comparatively trifling 
Free State element assembled, they concluded they 
would endeavor to disarm his power to destroy their 
plans, by connecting him Vvdth the proceedings, and 
accordingly elected him secretary of the meeting. As 
soon as the nominations were made, Col. Fox and the 
leaders of the Pro- Slavery party, in pursuance with 
their preconcerted policy, moved and urged an im- 
mediate ballot without adopting any resolutions, 
or pledging the candidates to any principles or 
measures. 

This plan of procedure v/as about being adopted by 
the meeting, when Montgomery, who had seen through 
the designs of the leaders of the meeting, arose and 
respectfully but firmly expressed his disapprobation of 
the course proposed for the action of the meeting, at 
the same time stating the grounds on which his oppo- 
sition was ba<§ed He said ho opposed the motion 



168 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eiglit. 

before the meeting for several reasons. In the first 
place the nominations for the various offices appeared 
as though they had been prepared for the occasion ; 
he did not say they were, but they certainly bore that 
appearance, and the haste manifested by some of the 
meeting to proceed to balloting, almost reduced the 
BuspiciQU to a certainty. Such a procedure was anti- 
republican, and he was sure his hearers would, on 
second thought, object to its adoj^tion. But this was 
but the least part of his objections to the motion. He 
was directly opposed to selecting any candidates at a 
meeting of this character, no matter how nominated, 
until they came forward and fairly and fully defined 
their positions, showing how they stood on the great 
questions of the day, etc., so that the meeting might 
ballot for the various candidates presented intelK- 
gently. Unless this w^as done, w^hat security had the 
freemen of Linn Co. that the principles of freedom, 
which he doubted not all before him cherished as the 
noblest heritage bequeathed them by their revolution- 
ary sires, would be safe when entrusted in the hands 
of unpledged and uncommitted candidates ? The eyes 
of the civilized world w^ere turned to Kansas, in the 
expectation of seeing her hardy sons with one accord 
dedicate her soil to freedom, and the freemen of Linn 
Co. he was sure would not be backward in contribu- 
ting their share towards forwarding the great enterprise. 



Capt. James 3Iontgomery. 169 

This was the substance in rough of Montgomery's 
remarks, who after commencing, continued to expa- 
tiate on the subject until he saw the rude settlers, 
many of whom had been drinking pretty freely, were 
properly touched by his appeal to their feelings, and 
had become sufficiently patriotic, when he sat down 
amid the boisterous applause of the greater part of the 
meeting. He had scarcely taken his seat, when he 
was followed by a speaker who advocated the same 
kind of sentiments, who was in turn succeeded by an- 
other settler favoring the same principles ; and 30 the 
thing went on, one speaker following another, all gain- 
ing courage from the noble stand taken by Montgom- 
ery, and advocating the same views ; until even Fox 
himself, the leader of the Pro- Slavery party, despairing 
of otherwise receiving a nomination from the meeting, 
reluctantly mounted the stand, and proclaimed him- 
self in favor of making Kansas a Free-State, to the 
complete repudiation of his former principles. This 
was the first triumph of Montgomery over the enemies 
of freedom in Kansas ; it made him many bitter foes, 
but it endeared him to the then few Free State men 
of that portion of the Territory, and to this day, the 
old settlers treasure a lively remembrance of how Mont- 
gomery made a Free State man of old Fox against 
his will. 

The vear of 'bQ was tolerably quiet until Gen. Clarke 
8 



170 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

invaded the Territory in October with three hundred 
men, making Linn and Bourbon Comities the theatre 
of his depredations. He was accompanied by the Col. 
Fox hitherto alluded to, who acted as a sort of an aid- 
de-camp to the notorious Clarke while in the Terri- 
tory. The grocery at Sugar Mound was burned, as 
was also a number of other buildings, and a large num- 
ber of settlers were taken prisoners, and forced to ac- 
company the expedition id Missouri, from whence 
many of them never returned. Remembering the ac- 
tive exertions of Montgomery the fall before to pro- 
mote the cause of freedom. Fox inflamed the mind of 
the ruffian Clarke with the desire to possess himself 
of such a dangerous person, and induced him to des- 
patch a detachment of men to take him a prisoner. 
The ruffians surrounded the house, and finding that 
the object of their search was absent, fired the build- 
ing, and left shelterless on the prairies, the wife and 
children of him whose life they sought, for no other 
crime than that he preferred /ree(io?yi to slavery. The 
next day .he boldly presented himself in their camp at 
the Mound, and demanded justice of Clarke for the 
wrongs done him by his followers. He was unarmed, 
and confronted Clarke at his head-quarters, which was 
for the time being in an old log house at the east end 
of the Mound, owned by a Free State settler by the 
name of Barnes. 



Capt. James Montgomery. 171 

Surprise for a moment kept tlie ruffian Gen. speech- 
less, and wlien he recovered from his amazement at 
the boldness of the unarmed man before him, in thus 
recklessly placing himself in his power, he gave an in- 
solent refusal to his request, and ordered his men 
standing around to seize on him and place him in cus- 
tody immediately. Several sprang forward to obey 
the summons, but they had illy reckoned on the charac- 
ter of the man before them. Throwing off their holds 
as though their grasps v/ere the grasps of children, he 
darted for a stone wall some thirty or forty yards dis- 
tant, which having gained, he bounded over into a 
strip of standing corn, and hastened in the direction of 
the timber bordering on Little Sugar. As soon as 
Clarke saw that Montgomery had torn himself from 
his men, he gave them the command to fire ; but be- 
fore the ruffians could get their arms in readiness, 
their intended victim had gained the shelter of the 
corn, and Clarke seeing that he was likely to make 
his escape, in a burst of uncontrollable rage, turned to 
his men, and with a savage oath exclaimed : — 

" Follow that man, and bring him to my presence, 
dead or alive, before you return !" 

Scores started in pursuit eager for blood, but by 
the time they gained the timber, Montgomery had se- 
creted himself in one of the many lurking places fa- 
miliar to him, from many a hunt through its solitudes^ 



172 Kansas in Eigldeen Fifty-Eight. 

and although the human blood-hounds frequently 
passed so near his place of concealment that he might 
have touched them by extending his hand, he escaped 
undiscovered, and under shelter of night he left his 
dangerous retreat, and made his way to where he 
would be less likely to fall into the clutches of the 
enemy. Day after day did Clarke and his allies scour 
the country for Montgomery, who was forced to make 
the wilderness his home, where he was not even secure, 
but ivas dogged from thicket to thicket by the ene- 
mies of freedom, who thirsted for his blood. Who 
can tell the thoughts of the future Hero of Southern 
Kansas while thus pursued with such unrelenting hos- 
tility by the human blood-hounds in whose hands he 
was liable at any moment to fall ; with the full 
knowledge of this, and the stunning consciousness of 
the terrible wrongs practiced on his wife and children 
seethino; throuo^h his brain ! 0, if the faith of the 
Christian and the minister in the blessed teachings of 
Him who died that men should live^ was in aught 
shaken as I'Cgarded its applicability to present time, 
by the unprovoked persecution he then suffered ; and 
the reader of the after-life of Montgomery is shocked 
by its contrast with the former, which seems to exhib- 
it a departure from the faith of his earlier life ; let 
him think of the provocation greater far than I have- 
told, which converted the spiritual soldier into the 
temporal icarrior. 



Capt. James Montgomery. 173 



Time passed on, and the enemies of Kansas were 
still busy in meditating the overthrow of the rising 
power of freedom in the Territory. During the early 
part of the year of '57 the Southern part of the Terri- 
tory was comparatively quiet, but early in the fall 
difficulties of a serious character were once more com- 
menced. A Pro- Slavery aristocracy had ruled Linn 
Co. as with a rod of iron, from its earliest settlement; 
and had grown more arrogant as time wore on, and 
their power to retain the control of county affairs, save 
by trickery, and brow-beating the majority of the set- 
tlers, became more and more doubtful. Paris, the 
county seat of Linn, was the head-quarters of this 
ruling aristocracy, and having the court and county 
machinery in their own hands, their power to disturb 
and harass the Free State settlers was almost unlim- 
ited. Col. Fox, Capt. Hamilton, the Davis's, &c., 
were the leaders of this aristocratic element ; but there 
were a number of others, of scarcely less note, who 
participated in the obtaining of the spoils derived in a 
legal manner, or from forays upon the weaker party ; 
and had thus made themselves equally obnoxious to 
the well-disposed and quietly enduring citizens of the 
Territory. Some of the enormities committed by this 
reigning aristocracy, aided and abetted by their Mis- 
souri allies, are almost incredible of belief, and noth- 
ing but their uncontrovertible authentication by scores 



174 Kansas in Elgliteen Fifty-Eight. 

and scores of tlie old settlers of the Territory could in- 
duce me to credit some of the heart-rending narrations 
on annal, or existing in fire-side tradition. 

Montgomery, from his retirement, saw it all. He 
saw every Free State man of note either driven from 
or harassed into leaving the county. He saw them 
deliberately plundered of cattle, horses, goods and 
crops ; in many instances their cabins burned, and 
outrages committed of such atrocity that even decen- 
cy forbids their mention. He saw the guilty parties 
grow rich and strong in a night on property thus pil- 
laged from his Free State neighbors. He saw all at- 
tempts at redress by law scouted at or thwarted. A 
wink, or a nod, or a gesture from one of the j^arties, 
to the jury, indicating that he was a member of their 
secret fraternity, invariably gained him the suit. Im- 
portant witnesses that would make the cases too glar- 
ing and flagrant if allowed to appear, were intimida- 
ted, or made criminals, or in some manner prevented 
from giving testimony which must perforce have con- 
victed the guilty actors. 

For a long time, Montgomery and others patiently 
waited for a redress by law of all their abuses, and 
probably would have waited longer had they seen any 
signs of justice assuming the sceptre of command ; 
but things daily continuing to grow worse, he at last 
obeyed the calls of an injured people, and summoning 



Capt. James Montgomery. 175 

a few of his neighbors together, he enrolled them iu 
a company st3'led the ^'Self-Protective Company/' 
and took the field to check some of the gigantic evils 
that had crept into the politics and legal code of the 
county. He first bound each member of the company 
to the faithful observance of certain rules and re2:ula- 
tions, making as a penalty for a non-compliance with 
them an immediate expulsion from his company. — 
These regulations having already been given to the 
reader from the lips of Montgomery himself, need 
not be here repeated. A policy of action was then 
agreed upon, which was strictly carried out. Every 
man of influence in Linn Co., who sustained the Blue 
Lodge in its secret machinations, and upheld the bo- 
gus code and the Pro-Slavery Lecompton government, 
v/hether by fraud, violence, or murder, was warned to 
leave the Territory in a certain time and take with 
him his property. Some left, and some refused to go. 
Those who did not leave within the specified time 
were visited again, when their houses were searched, 
and arms, ammunition, horses, &c., taken from them. 
In no case, however, was the house of a Pro-Slavery 
man burned, or his property wantonly destroyed by 
Montgomery and his men. The ejected occupant had 
full permission to sell, or transfer his property in any 
way he chose, no restraint whatever being imposed 
on his actions. 



176 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

This bold and decided course on the part of the 
Free State men had the desired effect ; peace was for 
the time being secured, and Montgomery returned to 
his home. So universally approved of, however, was 
his course by the settlers, from whose necks he had 
lifted the galhng yoke they had so long worn, that 
they would at any time have responded en mass to 
any call he might have made on their time and ser- 
vices. 

In the month of December, 1857, he was sent for 
by the settlers of the Osage in Bourbon Co., to come 
and assist them in extricating themselves from the 
difficulties in which they were involved. Before pro- 
ceeding further it will be necessary for me to give a 
brief synopsis of the state and condition of things in 
Bourbon Co. at the time of the dispatch of this mes- 
sage to Montgomery. 

In the summer of 1856, Gen. Clarke and his men 
left Fort Scott, where they were at the time staying, 
and marched up into the northern part of the county, 
laying waste every thing belonging to the Free State 
men, nearly all of whom had to flee for their lives, 
taking with them only such property as they could 
hastily gather together, but in most cases they were 
not allowed anything but a team to carry them out 
of the county. The claims on the Little Osage being 
very valuable on account of the splendid timber bor- 



Oapt. James Montgomery. 177 

dering on the stream^ were immediately transferred to 
the invading part}^, or their friends, with all the cat- 
tle, swine, and other property left behind. During 
the year of '57 many of those who were driven off, 
returned, when, as might be expected, great difficulty 
occurred. Those having fraudulent possession of these 
valuable claims, refused to give them up, and those to 
whom the respective property rightfully belonged, ex- 
pressed their full determination to possess themselves 
of them if possible. Some, after great difficulty suc- 
ceeded, but the great majority were doomed to see 
their property and stock, bearing their own private 
marks, appropriated by these usurpers, and when they 
made any attempts to resist such unjust and unlawful 
appropriations, they were summoned to Fort Scott, 
the county seat of Bourbon Co., where they were sub- 
jected to vexatious annoyances, excessive costs, etc., 
which reduced numbers from comfortable circumstan- 
ces to a state of want and misery. One of the most 
notorious of many cases, is, in brief, as follows : 

A Mr. Stone w\as forced to leave his claim in the 
summer of 'b^. It was shortly after taken possession 
of by a man from Missouri, commonly known as "Old 
Preacher South wood," he having purchased it of one 
of Clarke's ruffian followers. In the spring of '57, Mr. 
Stone returned and demanded possession. This was 
refused. Mr. Stone then erected another cabin so r^ear 

8* 



178 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

to his first habitatioDj that his family procured their 
water from the same well which he had formerly dug. 
This small favor was so grudgingly allowed by the 
Soiithwood family, that finally they refused to grant the 
trivial act of naked justice longer, and on a certain 
occasion Mrs. Southwood attacked Mrs. Stone while 
at the well, knocked her down with a hand- spike, and 
dangerously beat her. About this time a number of 
Free State settlers returned and began to gather up 
their stock, hogs, etc. As this had all been appropri- 
ated, and the greater part of it sold, the present owners 
refused to yield up their claim to it. The real own- 
ers feeling themselves strong in the right, took it. 
They also armed themselves in a body and went to 
those who occupied claims formerly belonging to Free 
State men, and ordered them to leave the county ; 
^' Old Preacher Southwood" among the number. — 
Those warned from the claims which they illegally 
occupied, immediately left and went to Fort Scott, 
where they made complaints before the Grand Jury 
of those men who had warned them off, and had all 
whom they could identify arrested under the rebellion 
act, one of the enactments of the bogus legislature. 

Others were arrested for stealing cattle, hogs, etc., 
and others asrain for secretins: them — and so a long 
string of indictments and bills were prepared for per- 
Becutions and trials, similar to those lodged againg-*^ 
the Free State men in '5^-^, at Lecompton. 



Caiot. James Montgomery. 179 

These acts of glaring injustice finally became so 
grievous that the settlers could endure them no 
longer, and commenced resistance to the court at Fort 
Scott, which, under the regime of Judge Williams, 
had become a second edition of that under the in- 
famous Lecompt. To correct these abuses and right 
themselves, the settlers of the Osage established a 
" Squatter Court," before which they tried all men 
who had in any manner interfered to harass them in 
past time. This court was established in December, 
and it v/as to assist in its support that Montgomery 
w^as sent for. The heads of the court were Major 

Abbott, Dr. G , etc. Before this court several 

were tried and fined. In every instance they were re- 
quired to make full restitution for every thing unlav^- 
fully obtained from the original owners. 

When the news of this fresh rehellion of the set- 
tlers of the Osage reached Fort Scott, it excited in 
the breasts of that Icno and order people the deepest 
indignation. A formidable posse was immediately 
raised by deputy U. S. Marshal Little, to crush at once 
the incipient rebellion to the laws of the Territory as 
expounded by Judge Williams. On the 15th of De- 
cember, while Major Abbott, Dr. G , and others, 

were holding Citizen's Court, they were informed that 
a force of about one hundred and fifty men were going 
to attack them the next day unless they dispersed in 



180 Kansas in Eiyldeen Fifty Eight. " 

the interim. On receiving this information, the heads 
of the court sent a messenger to Marshal Little, with 
the reply that they would disperse only on condition 
that the officials of the Fort would return to them all 
the warrants issued against the Free State men under 
the bogus Rebellion Act. No reply was made to this 
message, but the next day, while the court were await- 
ing the news from Fort Scott, their scouts, a dozen in 
number, came into camp, having been run from Barns- 
ville, a town some eight or ten miles from the Fort, 
so rapidly by Marshal Little and his posse, that three 
of their number were taken prisoners. The Marshal, 
and his posse of about seventy men all mounted, soon 
after the arrival of the scouts, made their appearance, 
and a deputation, appointed by the assembled settlers, 
went out to parley with the valorous Marshal. His 
adhered-to demand was that they should surrender 
unconditionally, and go to Fort Scott to be tried for 
treason. These disgraceful terms were spurned by the 
settlers, to whom half an hour was given to make up 
their minds. Although the posse of Marshal Little 
was double in number the little assemblage of settlers, 
they resolved not to be taken alive, and when the half 
hour expired sent word to the Marshal that they 
would disperse if allowed, but would not be taken 
prisoners. The valiant Marshal, on receiving this 
word, without giving them time to leave the building. 



Capt. James 3Iontgomery. 181 

charged with his men upon them, saying that they 
*' loould hloio them to li V 

The court was held in a log building, wliich had 
been converted into a tolerable Fort, being furnished 
with loop-holes, etc. The attack was commenced in 
three divisions, on the right, the left, and front of the 
settlers. As they came vc^ to the Fort, the squatters 
opened upon them a steady and destructive fire. The 
battle lasted about fifteen minutes, at the expiration 
of which time the Marshal and his men dispersed in 
every direction. Marshal Little was slightly wounded, 
one of his men was mortally, and two others were 
badly wounded. Several horses were also shot. The 
loss of the Free State men was none, and but one man 
wounded. 

In all of the proceedings that occurred at the time 
of which I write, Montgomery bore an honorable part ; 
and in a short time after his arrival on the Osage, his 
judgment, courage, and deadly skill wdth fire-arms, 
became so proverbial, that he was at once assigned the 
difficult post of leader, and implicit confidence re- 
posed in his actions. Nor was that confidence mis- 
placed. Few men could have filled the place Mont- 
gomer}^ filled, or done anght approaching w^hat he so 
thoroughly accomplished. There were powerful ene- 
mies on all sides to contend against. After the, skir- 
mish between Marshal Little and the settlers of the 



182 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-EigM. 



Osage, a feud, of even greater animosity than formerly 
existed, sjuung up between Fort Scott and the citizens 
of Bourbon Co. The troops garrisoning the Fort 
joined in with the citizens of the town in tlieir schemes 
of i^etty annoyances, and horse stealings, house burn- 
inofs, and midnio^ht assassinations, were of common 
occurrence. The ruffians of the border were powerful 
allies of the Fort gentry, and were leagued in with 
them in all their marauding expeditions. Besides 
these enemies of Kansas, there was the Pro- Slavery 
element still existing in the county, w^hich w^as ready 
at any moment to operate with the ruf&ans of the 
Fort, or their allies in Missouri. The position of 
Montgomery was thus one of great difficulty to pro- 
j)erly fill, and it was rendered still more embarrassing 
by the varied character of the men he commanded, 
many of whom had been deei)ly wronged in some man- 
ner by their oppressors, and were with difficulty re- 
strained from committing acts in retaliation unjustifi- 
able in themselves, and impolitic in consequence. But 
the genius of Montgomery overcame all opposing diffi- 
culties. He thoroughly drilled, the men composing 
his company, and having bound them to the faithful 
observance of the same resrulations that had jroverned 
the companies which he had previously commanded, 
he commenced a similar plan of operations to that 
which he had hitherto so successfully adopted in other 
localities. 



Copt. James Montgomery. 183 

A list of tlie names of the principal Pro- Slavery 
men residing^ on claims belonoins; to the Free State 
settlers was made out, all of whom were visited and 
warned to leave the Territory vrithin a certain period. 
The character of Montgomery had j)i'eceded him, and 
with a few exceptions, all who were visited obeyed the 
unwelcome summons within the time specified. Those 
who did not leave were again visited and summarily 
ejected from the premises they illegally occupied. In 
all cases, however, the property rightfully belonging 
to them was respected, and they were allowed to dis- 
pose of it, or convey it with them, as suited their 
pleasure. After righting the settlers on the Little 
Osage, Montgomery proceeded to the Marmaton, a 
stream a few miles north of Fort Scott, where the set- 
tlers were suffering under wrongs almost as grievous 
as those which oppressed the dwellers of the Little 
Osage before their troubles were removed. On arriving 
at the Marmaton, he at once stated his object, and 
had the satisfaction of seeino: the men who had wronsr- 
fully usurped claims, abandon them without any fur- 
ther proceedings being instituted against them. 

About this time a number of arrests were made by 
Marshal Little of the settlers of the Little Osasre, for 
whom he held writs charging them with firing on him 
when he came to arrest the members of the squatter's 
court held in Fort Bayne. He had all the troops of 



184 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

the Fort with him acting as his posse, and although 
the settlers were highly indignant at the high-handed 
outrage, they were powerless to interfere, and the pris- 
oners were marched off to Fort Scott. There were 
six Free State men taken. Among them was young 
McCannon, before alluded to. After being confined 
for weeks, and languishing under the miserable fare 
and impure air of their j)rison, McCannon succeeded 
in working a hole through the wall with a pocket- 
knife at intervals when un perceived by the jailor, and 
one dark night he and all his companions, with one 
exception, fled the jail and made their escape. The 
individual who refused to Hberate himself, was an old 
settler by the name of Beason, who remained and 
demanded an examination, which was finally granted. 
No evidence of consequence appearing to implicate 
him in the fight of Fort Bayne, he was released from 
custody. After restoring the settlers of the Marmaton 
to the claims from which they had been so long de- 
frauded, Montgomery returned to the Little Osage, 
and established himself at Baysville, which place he 
made his head quarters while in Bourbon Co. His 
boldly conceived and successfully executed line of pol- 
icy had inspired such terror in the hearts of the olden 
oppressors of the settlers, that for a period peace seem- 
ed to reign, and in the course of a few weeks he re- 
turned to his home, followed by the thanks of the set- 



Capt. James Blontgomei^y. 185 

tiers. And indeed they had reason to be grateful. — 
Without reward, and at an exjDense he could illy af- 
ford, he acted in their defense, simply from the im- 
pulses of a brave and generous nature. His influence,- 
also, on the rude but well-meaning men by whom he 
was surrounded, was highly beneficial. A religious 
man, of simple habits and kind disposition, no selfish 
considerations could swerve him from the path of duty, 
and his followers, who looked up to him with a re- 
spect almost bordering on idolatry, sought to emulate 
his virtues. 

I now come to speak of an action in the public life 
of Montgomery which more than any, or all others, has 
been quoted and harped on by his enemies whenever 
they have wished to create an unfavorable opinion 
against him ; and which has even been suppressed, or 
glossed over by some of his well-meaning, but ill- 
judging friends, as something indefensible. I allude 
to his destruction of the ballot-box at Sugar Mound, 
January 4th, 1858. The facts of the case are simply 
as follows : 

The reader of Kansas history is well aware of the 
fact that when acting Gov. Stanton in '57 convened 
the Territorial Legislature, it provided for an election 
of the qualified voters of the Territory on the 4th of 
January, 1858, to obtain the expression of the settlers 
on the infamous Lecompton Constitution, which they 



186 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

were then in danger of having thrust upon them. This 
power to record their ballots against the obnoxious 
Lecompton "Constitution was earnestly desired by at 
least nine-tenths af the inhabitants of the Territory, 
but on the policy of voting for State officers under 
the Lecompton instrument, there was a great diversi- 
ty of sentiment. The Topekaites opposed the partici- 
pation of the Free State party in State or Territorial 
politics on principle ; rebuke, said they, the infamous 
Lecompton Constitution with your ballots, but don't 
sanction it by voting for State officers under it : while 
the Brown, or conservative element of the party, favor- 
ed the voting policy, urging as their reason for so do- 
ing that they could thereby get the Territorial ma- 
chinery in their own hands, wdiich would prove a val- 
uable auxiliary to the Free State party in case the 
Lecompton Constitution wtiS foisted upon them in 
defiance to the exjDressed will of the majority. 

In fact, such a diversity of opinion existed, that it 
w^as deemed best to call a delegate ConTention to take 
the matter into consideration, and a call was accord- 
ingly issued for a Territorial Convention to convene 
at Lawrence the 23d of Dec, to council tiie propriety 
of nominating a state ticket for their support at the 
coming election. The Convention met, and, after a 
thorough interchange of sentiment, and a protracted 
session of several days, finally decided by a small ma- 



Capt. James Moiitgomery. 187 

jority not to go into an election for State ofiicers. The 
evening meeting of the last day the majority report 
was read and adopted. One of the resolutions adopt- 
ed was as follows : 

" Whereas, The apportionment for memhers of the 
Legislature under the Lecompton Constitution does 
recognize and legalize the fraudulent vote cast at the 
precinct of Oxford, in the County of Johnson, and in 
other respects is utterly unfair and unjust, giving the 
border counties an undue prej)onderance over the rest 
of the Territory ; and, whereas, a test oath is requir- 
ed of all challenged voters ; and, whereas, v/e have no 
confidence whatever in the fairness nor honesty of the 
officer to whom the returns are finally to be made ; 
and, whereas, the Constitution itself under which the 
election of January 4th is to be held, is not the choice 
of the people of Kansas. 

Therefore, Resolved, That the Free State party of 
Kansas will not ]3articipate in said election." 

When the decision of the Convention was finally 
declared, quite a number of delegates bolted from the 
meeting, and, led by G. W. Brown, editor of the Her- 
ald of Freedom, met in his office and j^ut in nomina- 
tion a ticket which they headed the " Anti-Usurpa- 
tion ticket,'' after which they adjourned. This pro- 
cedure on the part of the bolters from the Conven- 
tion was not in itself so reprehensible, as the manner 



188 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty -EicjTd. 

in which they conducted the campaign during the brief 
period that intervened between the Convention and 
the day of the election. The inhabitable portion of 
the Territory was sown with tickets, and copies of an 
extra from the office of the ^^ Herald of Freedom'' 
containing garbled accounts of the proceedings of the 
Convention, and conveying the idea that the people of 
Kansas, speaking through their delegates, had decided 
to vote for State officers the coming election. 

This deceived a large number of voters residing in 
remote portions of the Territory unrepresented at the 
Convention, and depending entirely qu the Lawrence 
papers for accounts of its proceedings. The great 
majority of the settlers who had in times past rallyed 
around the Topeka Constitution, would have preferred 
not participating in the election of State officers, but 
considered themselves bound to acquiesce in the de- 
cision of the Territorial Convention. 

At Sugar Mound, a strong Topeka precinct, these 
specious extras had been extensively circulated, and by 
the day of the election had produced their desired effect. 
The old settlers came thronging to the polls, and as 
they deposited their ballots for State officers, they 
would not unfrequently inquire of the officers conduct- 
ing the election : 

" Is this the Free State policy as decided on by the 
Convention .?" 



^ Capt. James Montgoinery. 189 

And the answer invariably returned by the judges 
of the poll, which settled all doubts in the minds of 
the inquire I's, was : 

*' It -is the Free State decision T' 

About noon Capt. Montgomery, and a few of his 
most devoted followers, arrived on the ground. The 
election was held in a log building at the east end of 
the Mound, then used as a store and Post-of&ce. The 
" Laiorence Hepuhlican," to counteract the false as- 
sertions of the " Herald of Freedom^' a few days 
before the election, issued a circular containing a true 
account of the proceedings of the Convention alluded 
to. A copy of this circular was forwarded to Capt. 
Montgomery, to his address at the Mound, and short- 
ly after his arrival was placed in his hands. From his 
earliest residence in Kansas, Montgomery had been 
an ardent Topeka man ; and even after the extra, pur- 
porting to give the decision of the Convention in favor 
of the voting policy, had made its appearance, he la- 
bored to dissuade his friends from voting for State 
officers, but not to such an extent as he would have 
done if he had not supposed the Territorial Conven- 
tion had decided adverse to his convictions. 

When he perused the Republican extra, and learned 
how grossly the people had been deceived, he felt it 
his duty to acquaint the assembled settlers with the^ 
nature of the deception, so that the fraud palmed up- 



190 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

on tliem might influence the voters no longer. lie ac- 
cordingly mounted a disused store-box, and read the 
true proceedings of the falsely represented Conven- 
tion, copied in full in the Eepublican extra, at the 
same time commenting at rome length on the great 
deceit practiced upon them. When the assembled 
settlers learned the cheat that had duped them into 
voting contrary to their better judgment, they v/ere 
greatly incensed. Numbers, who had voted for State 
officers, thinking that by so doing they were carrying 
out the policy of the party, expressed their dissatisfac- 
tion, and with one accord, demanded their ballots. — 
An exciting scene ensued. The crowd thronged 
around the poll, demanding the tickets they had de- 
posited in the ballot-box for State officers. The judges 
of the election were well-meaning men, who sympa- 
thised v/ith the deceived voters, but they knew no 
law which would justify them in restoring ballots wdien 
once deposited, and they refused to grant the requests 
of the multitude around them. The crowd fell back 
dissatisfied, hopeless of obtaining the votes they sore- 
ly repented depositing, but Montgomery stepped for- 
ward, and once more addressed the settlers. 

" Freemen of Linn ! I have defended your rights in 
past time, and I am here to defend your rights to-day. 
The ballot-box is sacred only when the ballots therein 
deposited are uiven freely and without restraint by 



Capt. James Montgomery. 191 

those legally entitled to the privileges of freemen. 
The ballot-box is to express the free sentiments of a 
free people. When it does not do this, it is no more 
the exponent of the will of the people it is intended to 
represent, than it would be if armed invaders surround- 
ed the poll, and deterred the legal voters from exer- 
cising, the elective franchise. How is it with the bal- 
lot-box for State officers before us ? Does it express 
tbe sentiments of the voters of Sugar Mound ? The 
many deluded freemen asking for their ballots, de- 
posited under false impressions, is an unmistakable 
negative to such a query. No, you have been grossly 
deceived ! There is nothing legal in support of that 
ballot-box except the Lecompton Constitution, which 
you deem it a virtue to treat v;ith contempt, and the 
moral law which would otherwise interfere to protect 
it, has been shorn of its majesty and power by the foul 
deceit practiced upon you. This ballot-box, fLilsely 
expressing your sentiments, I will destroy, and those 
wishing to vote for State officers can afterwards pro- 
ceed as though it were a new election. Thus, freemen 
of Linn, I right you !" 

While Montgomery was concluding his remarks, he 
advanced to the table on which several ballot-boxes 
were placed, and grasping the one containing the 
tickets for State officers, he threw it upon the floor 
with a force sufficient to burst it open, and strew the 



192 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

ballots around the room. The judges witnessed its 
destruction without interfering in the shghtest man- 
ner, and in a short time the voting on the Lecompton 
Constitution was recommenced, but as none present 
appeared to care about the State officers, the balloting 
on the Territorial ticket was not renewed. 

This in brief is the truth concerning the destruction 
of the ballot-box at Sugar Mound, the 4th of January, 
1858, by James Montgomery. I have simply sought 
to pen the action and the circumstances attending it 
as they really occurred, without commenting thereon ; 
and having accomplished my object, I will leave the 
reader to settle in his mind how much censure the ac- 
tion described should cause to be attached to its per- 
petrator, James Montgomery. 

I now approach the darkest period of Southern 
Kansas history. Owing to the troubles on the Little 
08age, Gov. Denver had ordered a company of dra- 
goons to Fort Scott, and encouraged by their presence, 
the ruffians who had figured in '5Q around Lecompton 
and Lawrence, and who had been forced to return to 
Fort Scott ; Clarke, Brocket and Co., commenced a 
new career more bloody and cruel than the first. Ex- 
perience and defeat had made them both sagacious and 
vindictive, and the innocent and unsuspecting settlers 
were ere long made to feel the effects of their sharpen- 
ed and cultivated depravity. One of their first steps 



Capt, James Ilonfgomery. 193 

was to corrupt the soldiers of the Fort, and induce 
them by partisan aud sectional prejudices, and the 
promises of a liberal share of the plunder, to enter 
into their schemes of harassing the settlers, by lending 
their uniforms and arms to the ruffians, and going 
with them to steal horses, rob and murder. The dra- 
goons being mostly from South Carolina, it was not a 
very difficult task to form a combination having, for its 
object the expulsion of every Free State settler from 
the county. In order to give the reader an idea of the 
terrible consequences of this combination, I will give 
a brief account of a fev/ of the many murders com- 
mitted. 

On the night of the 27th of March, '58, the ruffians 
of the Fort made a drive on the Free State settlements 
on the Little Osage, being informed by their spies that 
the river was unguarded. They first rode up to the 
house of a Mr. Denton, an inoffensive Free State man 
— called him out, and after asking him a few trifling 
questions, deliberately shot him. Some five shots 
were fired at him, two of which took effect. He ex- 
pired in two hours. Before his death he charged his 
assassination to two men by the name of Brocket and 
Hardwick. They then proceeded to the residence of a 
Mr. Davis, a neighbor of Mr. Denton's, and demanded 
entrance. Suspecting them of being enemies, Mr. 

Davis refused to open the door. The ruffians fired 

9 



194 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

several times through the door ; one of their shots 
took effect in his hand, but he was not seriously in- 
jured by any of their discharges. The next place 
visited was the house of a Mr. Hedrick. They arrived 
there about two o'clock. Mr. Hedrick was up, wait- 
ing on his sick wife. The attending physician was 
also present and up at the time. A call was made 
for admittance, and as soon as Mr. Hedrick opened the 
door and stepped into the opening, he was shot down, 
five buck-shot entering his side just below the breast. 
He never spoke, but fell dead upon the threshold of 
his dwelling. All these dark deeds were committed 
in one night. The news spread like v/ild-fire, and the 
deepest excitement everywhere prevailed. The settlers 
on the Osage, Mill Creek, and Marmaton, banded 
themselves and families together in small companies, 
as their situation, remoteness of position, etc , seemed 
to require to insure their safety. A number joined 
thus together at Mr. Harbin's, on Mill Creek, were 
alarmed one night about midnight, by some ruffians 
who stealthily approached the house, and fired several 
balls into the building, one of which took effect in 
young Harbin's thigh, geriously wounding him. 

The- few cases I have cited are but the mere epi- 
tomes of a • portion of a winter's history, full of the 
dark crimes of the slave power, but they are sufficient 
to give the reader an insight into the distracted state 
of Southern Kansas during that gloomy period. 



Capt. James Montgomery. 195 

The terror finally inspired in tlie breasts of the set- 
tlers, by the troops and their allies, was so extreme, 
that Montgomery, who had made his home in Bourbon 
Co. since February, saw the necessity of striking a 
blow that would destroy the charm of invincibility 
which was supposed to reside in gilt buttons with an 
eagle stamped on them, and accordingly used his ut- 
most endeavors to come in collision with the dragoons. 
For some time his exertions were unsuccessful ; the 
foe he wished to encounter was wary, and cared not 
to come in conflict with an enemy of whose prowess 
they had heard so much, unless they had greatly the 
advantage of numbers, etc. Accident at last gare the 
opportunity he had so long desired. 

A settler on the Marmaton had some horses stolen, 
and information of the fact being sent to Montgomery, 
he came with a small number of his men to see if the 
property could not be found and restored to its right 
possessor. On arriving at the Marmaton, Montgomery 
found, as he expected, that the robbers were from the 
Fort, and crossing the Marmaton, he proceeded along 
the stream in the direction of the Fort, following the 
trail of the marauding party to ascertain if they were 
still any where in the vicinity. While thus boldly 
venturing, as it were, under the very guns of the Fort, 
intelligence of their whereabouts was communicated 
by some Pro-Slavery scouts to the residents of the 



196 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight, 

Fort, who deemed it an excellent opportunity to get 
some of tlie dreaded "Montgomery men" in their 
power, as the scouts who brought the word said they 
were certain they were Montgomery's men from their 
appearance ; and one fancied he saw the chieftain 
himself in the little squad of men from the place he 
last reconnoitred their position. 

Wishing, however, to proceed with some show of 
legality. Judge Williams, ever prompt to obey the 
behests of the Fort gentry, issued some random writs 
for the arrest of these unknown individuals, and order- 
ed Capt. Anderson, of the dragoons, to take a sufficient 
number of his men and bring them in. Glad of an 
opportunity to signalize himself, the Captain placed 
himself at the head of some thirty men, and rode 
rapidly in pursuit of the little band of Montgomery. 
Armed to the teeth, they hurried up the Marmaton, 
paused for a few moments near a mill where a County 
Convention of Free State men was being held, and 
then, putting spurs to their horses, rode at full speed 
through the timber out into the open prairie. On 
gaining the prairie, they discovered the little band of 
Montgomery, some two or three miles in advance — 
and, encouraged by theip paucity of number, the dra- 
goons urged their horses to their swiftest gallop to 
overtake them. 

No rash commander was Montgomery. Much as he 



Capt. James Montgomery. 197 

wished to prove the mettle of the troops, he not will- 
ingly would have come in collision with them on that 
occasion, as they outnumbered him three to one, but 
he plainly saw that it v/as the intention of the dra- 
goons to ride them down unless they resisted, and that 
to escape was then impossible. 

As they rode towards a body of timber skirting a 
tributary of the Marmaton, hotly pursued by the 
rapidly approaching dragoons, Montgomery held sad- 
die council with his little band of followers, whether 
they should yield themselves up as prisoners, or trust 
the chances of a fis-ht with the odds so overwhelmino;- 
ly in favor of their adversaries. Ee told them that he 
could hold out no hope to them even in case they sur- 
rendered, that in all probability they would grace the 
nearest tree, and he himself was decidedly in favor of 
their defending themselves to the last extremity, but 
he would leave it to the majority to say whether 
it should be ignominious surrender, or perchance hon- 
orably W071 deliverance. Before marching to the 
Marmaton, Montgomery had systematized the men un- 
der his command into several divisions, and it happen- 
ed that the flower of his company had accompanied 
him that morning to the Marmaton. They were all 
young men — men who felt that they had wrongs to 
avenge, and who, from years of experience, had grown 
familiar with the modes of guerrilla warfare and reck- 



198 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

ed not of danger. Not a coward heart throbbed in 
the form of one of that little troop. With one accord 
the response was, "death before captivity to tyrants." 
Briefly then, their leader acquainted them with his 
plans. 

A short distance ahead of them was the belt of timber 
alluded to. It was flanked by deep ravines, and could 
only be approached in front. Montgomery was ac- 
quainted with the character of the ground, and knew 
if he could once gain this position, it would partially 
compensate for his deficiency of numbers. Communi- 
cating this fact to his men, they urged their jaded 
horses to a last eftbrt, and gained the timber just as 
the enemy came within hailing distance. Agreeably 
to instructions, they threw themselves from their horses 
and formed into a line. They were only eight in all. 
On thundered the dragoons, their sabres drawn, and 
gay equipments glistening in the sun. When they 
had approached within a few hundred feet, Montgom- 
ery called out to them to halt, which command not 
being obeyed was repeated by him with a like result. 
One of his company, a brave but somewhat profane 
young man, in the excitement of the moment, seeing 
that his leader's commands were disobeyed, exclaimed : 

'•'Halt ! G-- d--- you, halt V' 

No attention being paid to this last emphatic sum- 
mons, and seeing that the dragoons intended cutting 



Capt. James Montgomery. 199 

them down as they stood, the little handful of heroes 
poured a volley of balls from their Sharpens rifles into 
the advancing troops, and followed up the fire by com- 
mencing with their revolvers. The gallant dragoons 
were so thunderstruck by this unexpected resistance 
on the part of the men they expected to have made 
an easy prey, but who instead were making. such car- 
nage in their ranks, that after pausing only long 
enough to send a comparative harmles:. fire in return, 
they wheeled and fled, until they had retired beyond 
rifle range, leaving the field in possession of the victors. 

The loss to the troops was considerable. One dra- 
goon fell dead; another was so badly wounded he 
died in a short time after. Capt. Anderson was 
wounded, his horse shot under him, and two or three 
other dragoons were wounded, and several horses shot. 
The Free State loss was none, and but one man 
wounded, and he only slightly. 

All these dead and wounded men were left lying on 
the grass by the dragoons in their hasty retreat. They 
were within a short distance of the Free State men, 
and their positions, as they lay exposed to the sun, 
could be plainly seen. Anderson lay under his 
horse, which had fallen upon him, and was apparent- 
ly lifeless. The blood oozed, from the wounded men 
lying in all positions, upon the velvety sward. The 
rifles, rerolvers, etc., looked very tempting to some of 



200 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

tlie boys^ and tliey begged permission to step out and 
pick them up, but their leader would not allow of it. 
It was Uncle Sam's property, he said, and they were 
Uncle Sam's boys themselves, and it was not right 
to steal from the old gentleman, but when the old 
gentleman got so out of his place as he did that 
afternoon, it was perfectly right to leaT7i him his j)lace. 

In the interim the dragoons had held a council of 
war, sent back to the Free State Convention for a 
physician to attend the wounded, and dispatched a 
messenger to the Fort for reinforcements. The doctor 
came, and permission was granted him by the Free 
State men to attend the wounded. In due time a 
new company of dragoons came on from the Fort, ac- 
companied by the villainous Brocket and his followers. 
Another council of war was then held, and it was 
finally decided that they should fall back on Fort 
Scott, which prudent conclusion was adopted. Mont- 
gomery and his men remained in their strong position 
until the enemy had retired, when they re-crossed the 
Marmaton and returned to head-quarters. 

For some time the friends of" Montgomery deemed 
it policy to ignore his connection with the skirmish of 
" Yellow Paint," as it was termed, but the UDJustifi- 
able manner in which the troops conducted the mission 
with which they were charged by Judge Williams, 
was deemed in itself a sufficient justification of the 



Ca2:)t. James Montgomery. 201 

gallant defense made by Montgomery and his men ; 
and it was soon trumpeted far and near that Montgom- 
ery had overcome the boasted prowess of the federal 
troops, and vanq[uished a force three times superior to 
his own. 

The moral effect of the engagement was even great- 
er than the loss sustained by the troops would seem to 
indicate. The prestige of United States soldiers as 
posses for border ruffians to harass the people with 
was destroyed. By that fight — the first between the 
settlers and the federal soldiery in Kansas — it was sat- 
isfactorily demonstrated that a Sharpe's rifle ball, care- 
fully directed, would have the same effect upon a 
dragoon as upon a common man, and the soldiers of 
Fort Scott, by their after conduct, gave evidence that 
the demonstration was not wholly lost upon them. 

From all parts of the Territory congratulations 
flowed in on Montgomery. Old Capt. Brown of Os- 
awattomie, when he learned the particulars of the 
engagement, said that the like had not happened be- 
fore in the Territory, and that the manner of his avail-- 
ing himself of the strong position that offered, anc^ 
the skill with which he conducted the engagement, 
stamped him as one of the first commanders of the 
age. The Laivrence Bepuhlican, in an able editorial, 
expressed its approbation in unmistakable language, 

and among the tr^ie friends of freedom all over the 

9* 



202 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

TerritorYj wherever the affair was understood, there 
was but one general sentiment of approbation. 

Disturbances once more commencing in Linn Co., 
Montgomery left the neighborhood of Fort Scott, 
and returned to the vicinity of his home. Finding 
that the leading Pro-Slavery men of Linn Co., had 
entered into a combination with the ruffians of the 
border to drive out the Free State settlers as soon as 
the Lecompton Constitution should pass Congress, he 
went to those, and only those who had formerly been 
active in robbing his neighbors, and ordered them to 
leave the Territory. The Davis' on Big Sugar, Fox 
and Barlow of Paris, &c., were among those warned 
off. Some went through fear, but only those implica- 
ted in the troubles of '5Q, and since concerned in 
schemes against the peace of the Territory, were re- 
quired to leave. 

I have now brought my narrative about up to the 
period from which the events, in which the subject of 
this biograj)hy fills a prominent j)art, are already re- 
corded, and with a few general remarks I will close 
this already lengthy chapter. There are a number of 
important incidents in the life of James Montgomery 
that the limits and proposed character of my work 
have precluded entirely ; and many of the events 
comprised have been treated in a brief, cursory manner 
unworthy their importance. I have also carefully 



Capt. James Montgomery. 203 

guarded against allowing the respect and admiration 
I feel for the man, betray me into the statement of 
anything partisan and untruthful, preferring in many 
instances that my sentences should appear cold rather 
than anything should be penned which might be con- 
strued into a panegyric. I would beg of the unpreju- 
diced reader to reflect, if tempted to doubt the truth- 
fulness of these pages, that my opportunities to know 
the truth of what I write were good, and that my self- 
imposed task is not for hire, but love. I learned to 
know Montgomery through the praises of a grateful 
people, and through hours of social converse while in 
the trooper saddle I followed his lead ; and I have as- 
sumed the office of historian simply and solely because 
I liked the man, gloried in his hazardous, daring ca- 
reer, and deemed the true story of his life should be told, 

I will close with the selection of one of the many 
descriptions of Montgomery by writers on Kansas 
politics. It is from the pen of one of the correspon- 
dents of the N. Y. Evening Post. It is as follows : 

" In conversation he talks mildly, in a calm, even 
voice, using the language of a cultivated, educated 
gentleman. His antecedents are unexceptionable ; 
he was always a Free State man^ although coming 
from a Slave State, where he was noted as a good cit- 
izen, and for his mild, even temperament. In his 
daily conduct he maintains the same character now ; 
but when in action and under fire, he displays a dar- 



204 Kansas in Elgliteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

ing fearlessness, untiring perseverance, and an indo- 
mitable energy that has given him the leadership in 
this border warfare. His discretion, courage, and ac- 
knowledged ability, have gained him -what he will con- 
tinue to receive— the confidence ai^d support of the south- 
ern tier of counties. Montgomery's enrolled company 
numbers from four to five hundred men, all of whom 
are old residents of the territory, and are, consequent- 
ly, familiar with the peculiar mode of fighting pur- 
sued by the border ruffians. Some are desperate men, 
and could their histories be told, jovi would not won- 
der that tliey followed their border ruffian persecutors 
to the bitter end. There are two boys in that com- 
pany whose dying father charged them to avenge his 
cowardly murder. Five bullets pierced his body as 
he stejDped from the door-sill to extend the hospitali- 
ties of his cabin to his murderers. Others have been 
robbed at home, or on tlie highways, and not one of 
them but what has suffered some outrage, or indigni- 
ty from those villains headed by Brocket, Hamilton^ 
Clarke and Titus. ISotwithstanding every incentive 
to retaliate actuates these men to demand blood for 
blood, yet Montgomery is able to control and direct 
them. He truly tempers justice with mercy, and he 
has always protected women and children from harm, 
and has never shed blood except in conflict, or in self- 
defence. Such is the portrait of the Kansas Hero — 
James Montgomery." 



TJie Attach on Fort Scott. 205 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE ATTACK ON FOKT SCOTT. 

" Well knows the fair and friendly moon 

The band that Marion leads — 
The glitter of their rifles, 

The scamper of their steeds. 
A moment in the British camp — 

A moment— and away, 
Back to the pathless forest. 

Before the peep of day." — Bryant. 

The intelligence of the release of tlie prisoners ar- 
rested by Sheriff Walker, without even the farce of a 
trial by the civil authorities of Fort Scott, created the 
most intense excitement among the settlers of Bourbon 
Co., and from man to man was passed the indignant 
watchword, "Down with Fort Scott !" " Down with 
the stronghold of tyranny !" Anxiously was the return 
of Montgomery awaited. 

I well remember the evening of his arrival on the 
Little Osage. It was the second day following our re- 
turn from Fort Scott. The night was unusually 
warm, and the men composing the regular force of 
Montgomery were encamped in the dense body of tim- 



206 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

ber bordering on the Osage, a short distance from 
Eaysville. Among the hardy troopers who since the 
earliest commencement of Southern Kansas difficul- 
ties, had almost lived in the saddle, or the green wood, 
and thereby become inured to hardship and exposure, 
the comforts of civilization were but lightly regarded, 
and the forest or prairie, with the overarching sky for 
canopy, answered as well for the wearied frame as the 
sol'test bed of down. Nor is that rude, unsettled life 
wholly devoid of pleasure to its followers. There is a 
charm in the hurried march and the swift attack ; the 
life spent in the saddle, that those who have never 
shared its perils can but poorly appreciate. And then 
at night, when the labors of the day are over, and the 
thoughts of immediate danger banished, and around 
the camp-fire circles the ready joke, the tale and the 
song, the stern trooper for the time-being forgets his 
wrongs, and becomes as light-hearted as in " the days 
agone," ere sorrow and care befell his path through 
life. 

On the evening in question, light-hearted merriment 
presided over the Free State camp. Peal after peal 
of laughter burst from the lips of the men, and was 
borne by the night wind until lost in the hoarser mur- 
murs of the Osage. Capt. Bayne was among the 
troopers, and his burly frame shook with merriment 
as he narrated his interview with Judge Williams, and 



77^6 Attach on Fort Scott. 207 



described the terror of that ivortliy at the vision un- 
folded to him in the wilderness. The ardent Mc 
Cannon and a score of others of scarcely less note, were 
also in attendance, and contributed to the cheer and 
festivity of the occasion. Old campaigns, involving 
scenes of danger, were relived by the men, and tale 
after tale told. One of the many anecdotes I will 
briefly narrate. It was entitled the ^' Double Barreled 
Cannon,'' and is as follows : — 

" At Fort Scott the ruffians have in their possession 
a large telescope, which they bring in requisition in 
times of danger to prevent themselves from being sur- 
prised by the pesky ' abolitionists.' One day one of 
the chivalrous sons of the sunny South was taking a 
survey of the surrounding country through the above 
mentioned instrument, when he saw something sus- 
picious approaching from the direction of Fort Bayne. 
It was a large, black object, with two holes in the 
end, mounted on wheels, attended by several wagons 
and a number of armed horsemen. What could it be ? 
Something was evidently in the wind ! He studied, 
peered and conjectured. The mental calibre of his 
mind was not sufficient to elucidate the mystery. He 
summoned assistance. A crowd of congenial spirits 
soon collected. For a time the wisdom of the assem- 
bled solons was baffled. At length a bright idea 
struck one of the assembled group. It was a double 



208 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

barreled cannon I Yes, it could be nothing else ! 
It was Capt. Montgomery's company, fully equipped 
for war, coming with this new 'Yankee machine' to 
destroy their town ! Sensations of terror and dismay 
pierced the hearts of the Fort Scott ruffians. A depu- 
tation of their bravest heroes was sent out to treat 
with the besiegers and ascertain their intentions. The 
object of so much consternation was approached with 

fear and caution, when thank heaven, the double 

barrel cannon turned out to be nothing more danger- 
ous than the boiler of a steam mill, which the enter- 
prising brothers Eay were having conveyed to their 
mill on the Osage. The joke was too good to be al- 
lowed to be forgotten by the Free State boys, and was 
repeatedly thrown up to the denizens of the Fort to 
their no small annoyance." 

When the above story was completed, one of the 
company was called on for a song. The person on 
whom the demand was made was a slender, delicate 
appearing youth, with something of the poet look in 
his light blue eyes and almost girlish countenance. 

" Sing us the' song you made about the Osage, Ned," 
said one of the men. 

Several joining in the request, the youth was at last 
induced to commence. The song was in itself a mere 
doggerel, but the singer's voice was good, and in the 
forest solitude of the Osage, it rang with a fine effect. 



The Attach on Fort Scott. 209 

I procured a copy of tlie verses from the singer, and 
will transcribe them for the reader. Shorn, however, 
of the circumstances which produced them and gave 
them their effect, I do not suppose they will be of 
much value to the reader, but they may not be wholly 
devoid of interest. I will take the liberty of altering 
the heading, and the future compilers and ballad 
mongers of the border songs of Kansas may make what 
disposition they choose of the doggerel. 

SONG OF MONTGOMERY'S MEN. 

(Air — Banks of the Rio Grande.) 

" One morning bright, by early light, 

Word ran from youth to age, 
That Brocket then, with all his men, 
Was on the Little Osage. 
Chorus — 0, the Little Osage, 
The Little Osage, 

We'll fight the foe where'er they go, 
Upon the Little Osage. 

Montgomery heard full soon the word. 

And came, the foe to engage, 
But they took flight, without a fight, 

From the Little Osage. 
Chorus, 

Every man of Montgomery's band 

Shall live on history's page, 
And IMontgomery's name have deathless fame 

Upon the Little Osage. 
Chorus. 



210 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

The Fort Scott band tried to command, 

But foimd birds hard to cage, 
When Cannon was about^ who would dig out, 

When taken from Little Osage. 
Chorus. 

Pro-Slaverj^ men of every den, 

Now fear Montgomery's rage, 
Who would not cease till he made peace 

Upon the Little Osage. 

Chorus. 

To free our land from a tyrant band, 

Our sires did once engage, , 

And liberty does Montgomery 

Preserve on Little Osage. 
Chorus. 

The song had scarcely ceased when its suhject made 
his appearance. If not received with the shrilly de- 
monstrations which the great poet describes as accom- 
panying the reception of Eoderick Dhu by his follow- 
ers, his presence was none the less acceptable, and the 
light, careless character of the assemblage wholly dis- 
appeared in the earnest council that succeeded his 
arrival. The chief subject that claimed the attention 
of those in deliberation was the policy of an attack on 
Fort Scott. All the troopers concurred in the opinion 
that a well-directed assault on the Fort would do 
more to promote the objects of the Free State party 
than any thing that could possibly be accomplished 



The Attach on Fort Scott. 211 

in any other direction, and the only difference of 
02)inion was in regard to the feasibility, time, etc., of 
an attack. Montgomery briefly stated his reasons for 
favoring an immediate assault on the Fort as follows : 

" The people of Fort Scott, in releasing the mur- 
derers arrested by Sheriff Walker, without even the 
farce of a trial, and in utter defiance of public senti- 
ment and the laws of honor, had forfeited all claims 
on the protection of the freemen of Kansas, and plain- 
ly proven that they preferred hostilities to an adjust- 
ment of difficulties. If guerrilla warfare was to be 
continued — and the gauntlet had been thrown down 
by the ruffians of the Fort — he was decidedly in favor 
of striking a blow at the enemy that would convince 
them that the Free State party of Southern Kansas 
was in earnest — that if ihQj provoked ivar they should 
have tvar, and as Fort Scott was the hot-bed of vil- 
lainy and corruption. Fort Scott was the proper point 
of attack. A well-directed assault on the Fort, con- 
vincing the citizens that unless there was a change 
their town must fall, might possibly induce them to 
send for the Governor, whose presence could do no 
harm, and might perchance be productive of good." 

Then followed a desultory conversation respecting 
the number of troops in the Fort, the customs of the 
garrison, the time for an attack, etc. ; and although 
the proposed expedition was one that would involve 



212 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

in tlie greatest danger all concerned therein, the men 
discussed it in its minutia as coolly as thougli it was 
an affair of but ordinary moment. One of the troopers 
made allusion to the course to be pursued in case the 
expedition failed in its object and was signally defeat- 
ed. Montgomery turned to him and repeated the 
following sublime lines of Byron : — 

" They never /r/?? who clio 
In a great cause: the block may soak their gore, 
Their heads may sodden in the sun ; their hmbs 
Be strung to city gates, and castle walls. 
Yet still their spirits stalk abroad. Though years 
Elapse, and others share as dark a doom, 
They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts, 
Which o'erpower all others, and conduct 
The world at last to freedom." 

The time had worn to nearly midnight, and the 
lights faintly glimmered around, save on a distant 
swell where the dry grass of the previous summer was 
redly burning. The conversation ceased, the weary 
troopers dropped one by one to rest, and soon quiet 
reigned over the valley of the Osage, broken only by 
the irregular howling of wolves in the distance. 

Several days elapsed before a suitable night for the 
expedition arrived. In the interim preparations for 
the attack were conducted in the most private man- 
ner, not any of the Free State settlers even being ini- 
tiated in the proceedings, save those who were to par- 



The Attach on Fort Scott. 213 

ticipate in the perils of the assault. The reason for 
this prudence will be obvious to the reader when he 
reflects that if by any means intelligence of the con- 
templated movement reached the ears of the denizens 
of the Fort, their superior numbers would enable them 
to crush the little band of Montgomery the moment 
they ventured within their power. 

On the night of the 6th of June, Montgomery and 
his men Mt their head-quarters on the Marmaton^ and 
took up their march for Fort Scott. There being no 
moon the early part of the night, trusty guides were 
j)rocured to pilot the expedition through the dark- 
ness to its proper destination. It was a night to be 
remembered by those engaged in the enterprise. The 
day had been unusually sultry, and towards sunset, 
the familiar black-caps of clouds — the sure precursors of 
a storm — began to make their appearance in the west- 
ern sky. Night set in starless, and a pitchy darkness 
soon enveloped the forest and prairie. To use the fe- 
licitous words of Mrs. Baillie : 

" The night grew wondrous dark :. deep swelling gusts, 
And sultry stillness took the rule by turns, 
While o'er our heads the black and heavy clouds 
Rolled slowly on. It surely boded stoma." 

The guides, although selected on account of their 
familiarity with the country, became bewildered in the 
darkness, and the expedition frequently wandered 



214 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight 

aimlessly over the prairie, traversing miles without 
gaining a furlong in the direction of the Fort. The 
storm, which had been so long threatening, at last 
broke. There did not a great deal of rain fall, the 
storm being of a gust}^ chanic rer and soon passing over, 
but the accompanying thunder and lightning was very 
severe. The thunder of the prairies is very different 
from the tame thunder of the Atlantic coast. I have 
heard it when its mighty roll w^as almost deafening, 
and when the accompanying flashes of lightning were of 
corresponding intensity. After the storm passed over 
it grew somev;hat lighter, and just before midnight 
rose up before the eyes of the gratified troopers the 
dark outlines of the buildings of Fort Scott. 

Before proceeding further, it will be necessary for 
me to give a brief description of the place. Fort Scott 
is pleasantly situated about four miles from the Mis- 
souri line, on the point of a narrow bluff made by a 
small branch putting into the Marmaton river from 
the South. As you go South the prairie widens, and 
on this elevation the modern town of Fort Scott is 
principally situated. At the Fort the divide is about 
fifty rods wide. The Fort itself can scarcely lay 
claim to the title of Fort, being but a small military 
outpost in no way fortified. It was built seventeen 
years ago as a station for troops to hold in check the 
various tribes of Indians. The buildings are all frame 



The Attach on Fort Scott. 215 



except one, which has been used for the guard-room. 
The buildings all front on the public square which 
contains two or three acres. The officers' old quarters, 
four in number, are on one side of the square. Two 
buildings, one on each side of the square, are barracks 
for soldiers. On the same side with one of these bar- 
racks is a large stable, two hundred feet long, for the 
horses of the drafroons. On the remainins; side of the 
square is the old guard-house, and the building for- 
merly used as a hospital, and one other building for 
soldiers' quarters. A number of these buildings are 
no longer occupied by the government troops. 

On arriving at the Fort the sentinels were quietly 
secured, and after reconnoiterino: the town, and findino; 
that none of the inhabitants were astir, the troopers 
commenced collecting straw and other combustible mat- 
ter from the stables of the town, and proceeded to fire 
the Fort, and the Pro-Slavery hotel. The fire blazed 
up redly, throwing its lurid glare across the broad 
square, and lighting up the deserted streets of the 
town. The alarm of fire was soon sounded, and the 
troops and denizens of the place swarmed like so many 
bees to the scene of the conflagration, and commenced 
the extinguishment of the flames. But scarcely had 
they collected, before a fire was opened upon them by 
the men of Montgomery, from a ravine close at hand 
to which thev had retreated. The astonished soldiers 



216 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit, 

fled from their exposed situation to one of greater se- 
curity, and commenced a rapid and irregular fire in 
turn. There is something exciting in the rapid dis- 
charge of Sharpens rifles. Their whirring " uz-ur-uz" 
is suggestive of something far from pleasant, and a 
man who is in any way nervous had better have noth- 
ino; to do with such danojerous music. The firins: was 
kept up by the little band of Montgomery until the 
fire which had been kindled against the Pro-Slavery 
hotel, and which, in consequence of the building be- 
ing covered with a fire-proof paint, had failed to com- 
municate itself to the edifice, had died away, envel- 
oping the town in pitchy darkness, when the little 
party of Free State men slowly and in an orderly 
manner left the jDlace. 

The loss sustained by the enemies of Kansas was 
never known to a certainty outside of Fort Scott. 
They would not own to the death of any of their num- 
ber, but after that night there was a vacancy on the 
roll of the infantry that was never accounted for to 
my knowledge. In an after visit to Fort Scott I saw 
numerous evidences of that nisiht's attack. The house 
of ex-Gov. Kansom received several bullets, and the 
house of a Mr. Shubert, a baker, situated between the 
point of attack and the principal buildings of the 
town, was completely riddled with balls. It was said 
that a lady had the dress upon her person perforated 



The Attach 07i Fort Scott. 217 

by a bullet^ but the statement rests on the authority 
of a correspondent of the " Herald of Freedom/' giv- 
ing the Fort Scott version of the affair, and I do not 
vouch for its correctness. The greatest alarm per- 
vaded the bosoms of the inhabitants of the town dur- 
ing the stay of Montgomery. The shrieks of the wo- 
men and children could be heard above the sharp re- 
ports of the fire-arms. Nor was the terror confined to 
the weaker sex alone. Some of the more timid of the 
citizens ran affrighted out into the country, wakening 
up the scattering settlers with the most magnified re- 
ports of the surprise of the Fort by Montgomery, and 
^he massacre going on of its inhabitants. 

Montgomery retreated with his men to the Big Bend 
of the Marmaton river, some four or five miles from 
the Fort, where he stationed them in an advantageous 
position awaiting the approach of the enemy, from 
whom he expected an attack with daylight But the 
troops had once dearly tested the fatal prowess of the 
men who, like the immortal Grecians, fought 

" For tlieir altars and their fires, 
God and their native land," 

and cared not to rashly risk a second engagement. 
They sent out scouts, paraded the force of the garrison 
beyond the limits of the tow^n, etc., but they took good 
care not to approach wdthin rifle range of where the 
^ men of Montgomery were known to be concealed. 



218 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eiglit. 

Finding that tliey were not disposed to attack him, 
Montgomery evacuated his position and returned to 
head-quarters. While on the Marmato'i he replied 
to an order of Major Gen. Lane commanding him to 
disband his company and report himself to head- 
quarters, to answer to grave charges made against 
liim as an officer commissioned by the Military Board. 
The following is a copy of his transmitted reply : — 

Maematon, June 6th, 1858. 

Eds. Lawrence Kepublican — Gents : — I see in your issue of May 
27th, an article headed " Military Orders," and signed " J. 11. Lane, 
Maj. Gen." in which I am ordered to disband my company and re- 
port myself instanter, etc. I have only to say that my command ^ 
a militia officer was resigned in the early part of last winter, some 
time before the order of February 18th was received by me. 

It is not true, as charged in the Lecompton Democrat, that I am 
acting under a commission from the Military Board. I never had 
a commission from that Board ; and neither Gen. Lane nor tho 
Board are responsible for my conduct. 

I am identified with a popular movement in this section of the 
country, having for its object a redress of grievances. Our work is 
a necessary one ; and, so soon as it is accomplished, we will lay down 
our arms and submit to the laws. 

Respectfully yours, 

James Montgomery. 

The above letter was written at the earnest solicita- 
tion of some of Montgomery's friends, who deemed it 
due to his character that the facts of the case should 



Tlie AitacJc on Fort Scott 219 

be given to the public, and is the only letter he has 
ever written to my knowledge in vindication of his 
conduct frorq the many writers. 

• " Who neither knew 
His faculties, nor person, yet would be 
The chroniclers of his doings." 



220 Kansas in EigMecn Fifty-Eight. 



CHAPTEK XIY. 

A TRIP TO WEST POINT. 

" Each town along the herder 

Responded to the call, 
But in grim looking EufBans 

West Point surpassed them all."— Border Song. 

While the events recorded were occurring in Bour- 
bon Co., a different i:>olicy was being adopted in the 
adjoining county of Linn. The conservative element 
of the county — the settlers emigrating originally 
from Missouri and states further South — scrupulously 
held forth the idea that all that was needed to restore 
peace was to cultivate a better understanding with 
Missouri ; and with this view they had labored to bring 
about a Convention at some central point, to be com- 
posed of delegates from the Southern counties of 
Kansas, and the border counties of Missouri. They 
finally succeeded in meeting with some response to 
their proposition among the better portion of the citi- 
zens of Missouri, and a conference meeting was ap- 
pointed at West Point, to take the unsettled state 



A Trip to West Point. 221 

of the Territory into consideration, and promote, 
if possible, a better feeling between Missouri and 
Kansas. 

The great majority of the settlers had but little 
faith in any good proceeding from a conference meet- 
ing held in a town of such established notoriety as 
West Point, but anxious to do anything from which 
there w^as a hope of bettering the distracted condition 
of the country, they held a Convention at Paris to 
elect delegates to represent the Territory at the con- 
ference meeting at West Point, appointed June 8th. 
Being previously informed of the time, place. &c., of 
the intended meeting, I hastened from Bourbon Co., 
and, with one of the conferees, Mr. Danford of Linn 
county, rode from Sugar Mound to the Trading Post, 
distant some ten or twelve miles, arriving at that place 
about 10 a. m. On nearing the Marais des Cygnes, 
one of the largest streams in Southern Kansas, we 
found it greatly swollen by recent rains, but being 
anxious to cross without delay, we committed our 
horses to the seething flood, and with some difficulty 
gained the opposite shore, although not without seri- 
ous doubts at one time as to the result, and a thorough 
drenching caused by the ignorance of our horses in 
swimming. 

We found the Post guarded by some forty or fifty 
volunteers under the proper officers. They vvere in 



222 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

fine spirits, and, being acquainted with a number of 
them, I soon learned all that had transpired of mo- 
ment since my departure. There had been several 
predatory parties over the border at diiferent periods, 
but such a strict guard had been kept up by the Free 
State companies stationed at various places along the 
line, that they had not been able to penetrate far 
enough into the Territory to perpetrate much depre- 
dation on the settlers. 

Waiting only the arrival of the balance of the com- 
mittee, we left the Post, (first ordering the men on 
duty to follow the conferees in a couple of hours, to 
the Missouri line,) and took the broad road leading 
to West Point. All along the route we met team- 
sters and settlers coming out of the town, who gave 
the most alarming accounts of the excited condition 
of the place ; the great number of people collected ; 
the threats uttered against certain members of the 
committee by the ruffians, etc. The appearance of 
the country was even more desolate than when I last 
beheld it. The luxuriant crops of wheat, oats, &c., 
were beaten down by the cattle that had rioted with 
impunity on them, and the deserted habitations of 
the settlers were rapidly going to decay. The whole 
aspect of the country reminded me of the lines of the 
poet : 



A Trip to West Point. 223 

" Sunk are thy homes in shapeless ruin all, 
And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall ; 
And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand. 
Far, far away thy children leave the land." 

On arriving at the suburbs of West Point, we saw 
a large number of horses hitched around the town 
and picketed over the prairie, and, on fairly entering 
the town, we could scarcely move through the streets 
with our horses for the collection of people that had 
gathered' in the little border town of West Point. 
The number congregated could not have been less 
than one hundred and fifty men — perhaps more — a 
very respectable sized delegation certainly on the part 
of Missouri to meet a half-dozen conferees on the part 
of Kansas. This extraordinary procedure on the part 
of the citizens of Bates Co., after pledging themselves 
that no unusual gathering should be aljowed, at first 
naturally excited suspicion in the minds of the com- 
mittee, but on unhesitatingly and familiarly mixing 
with them, we found that, with the exception of some 
half-dozen noisy ruffians, the majority were civilly 
disposed, and even to a great extent unarmed. It 
was about midday when w^e arrived, and the commit* 
tee were soon after invited to dinner by various citi- 
zens of the town. At 1 p. m,, the meeting organized 
in a large room over the principal store in the town. 
Three of the border counties of Missouri were repre- 



224 Kanscis in EigTdeen Fifty-Eiglt. 

sented through delegates at the Convention — Bates, 
Vernon and Jasper. The crowd still continuing to 
increase, a messenger was dispatched by the commit- 
tee to order the men to approach wdthin a certain dis- 
tance of the town. When about half w^ay between 
West Point and the advancing troops, and while pass- 
ing by a cove of timber, the messenger was fired upon 
by a concealed assailant, and his horse struck and 
slightly injured by the ball. He proceeded, however, 
and saw his instructions fulfilled b}^ the horsemen. 

The conference £nally resulted in the adoption 
and signing by all the conferees, a series of resolutions, 
the synopsis of which w^as : — That the citizens of 
Western Missouri, through their delegates, pledge 
themselves to assist in arresting and bringing to jus- 
tice Capt. Hamilton, and all the men concerned with 
him in the ti;agedy of the Marais des Cygnes ; that 
they would forewarn the peoj^le of Kansas of any fu- 
ture invasion of Hamilton & Co., or similar organi- 
zation, and assist in putting it down ; the settlers of 
the Territory in a like manner, through their delegates, 
pledging themselves to assist in repelling any invasion 
of Missouri by their neighbors ; and either party to 
be absolved from the contract on the slightest breach 
of faith tow^ards it by the other. 

After the articles of agreement w^ere prepared and 
signed by the conferees, they were read and submitted 



A Trip to West Point. 225 

to tlie sovei^eign people for their action. A few of the 
Bimon-pure ruffian order objected to the resolutions, 
and made hostile demonstrations of their dissatisfac- 
tion, but the majority of those in attendance expressed 
themselves as satisfied with the articles, and appeared 
to be walling and anxious to do everything honorable 
to bring about an understanding and promote peace. 
The longer we remained, however, the more noisy and 
turbulent the populace became, on whom had liquor 
and the inflamatory speeches of leading ruffians began 
to produce dangerous eifects, and more than once some 
member of the committee was rudely jostled by the 
crowd ripe for an affray. 

We left the place about 5 p. m., and arrived at the 
Trading Post just at dusk. After a good supper, pre- 
pared by the hands of Snyder, the brave blaclvsmith, 
who so gallantly repulsed the villainous gang of Hamil- 
ton, on the occasion of the Post tragedy, and who, 
with his fimily, is regular cook for the garrison at the 
Post ; the " boys" all collected in front of the tempo- 
rary Fort, and the resolutions adopted at West Point 
were read to them to their apparent great satisfaction. 
The reader, one of the conferees, (Mr. Danford,) also 
added a few^ explanatory and well-timed remarks, 
which wTre received with great enthusiasm. Mr. 
Danford is a young man of more than ordinary ability, 

a readv and fluent speaker, and was a memb^ of the 
10- 



226 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

late Territorial legislature from Linn Co. It was in- 
teresting to observe the honest, seamed features of the 
sturdy Snyder during the eloquent remarks of young 
Danford. Occasionally after the delivery of a patriotic 
sentiment, he would half rise from his seat, and with 
his strongly marked Dutch accent, make some such 
confirmation as, " Dat's true ! Dat's the motto for 
free men !" etc. 

During our departure a rumor had gone the rounds 
of the camp that Gov. Denver was en route for the 
southern portion of the Territory, and this good news, 
coupled with the happy termination of the conference 
alluded to, had caused the hopes of a speedy adjust- 
ment of existing difiiculties to grow and brighten. I 
could hear it in the light jest that went circling around 
the camp-fire, and see it in the beaming countenances 
of the men as their thoughts would wander to their 
distant, cabin homes, from which nothing but the 
great principle for which Kansas has sacrificed so 
much, could induce them to absent themselves. 

In consequence of an unusual number of settlers 
having collected to hear the result of the embassy, the 
accommodations for sleeping were very limited, and, 
as on a previous occasion, every expedient was resorted 
to by the men to make themselves comfortable for the 
night. Despite the sultriness of the day, the evening 
air was chill, and the meagre aeconinK^dations of the 



A Trip to West Point. 227 

place were appropriated before half the applicants were 
supplied. It was amusing to see some of tlie unpro- 
vided ones running around the quarters searching for 
a still vacant place, and hear their ejaculations at 
each successive failure. I could not avoid contrasting 
the antipathy manifested by some of the volunteers 
towards exposing themselves, with the proverbial in- 
difference shown to such things by the men of Mont- 
gomery. Finally all save the sentinels sank to rest, 
and the stillness that reigned around was only broken 
by the hoarse murmurs of the swollen waters of the 
fatal Marais des Cygnes. 



228 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

THE VISIT OF GOV. DENVER. 

" Xow set your flags a-flying, 

And beat the ready drum, 
For joy to Southern Kansas, • 

The Governor has come ! 
He's cowed the Fort Scott ruffians, 

He's set the people free, 
And all their brave defenders 

He's treated clemently."— Border Song. 

The flying rumors of the Governor's visit South were 
indeed true ! The Executive of Kansas had listened 
with a deaf ear to the prayers and petitions of the in- 
jured settlers to come to the scene of difficulties ; he 
had ev^en heard unmoved the heart-rending narrations 
of the survivors of the tragedy of the Marais des 
Cygnes, who had been borne to Lecompton that they 
might work upon the feelings of the Governor ; but 
when the swift express went up from his friends in 
Fort Scott, that their town was in jeopardy, the Gov- 
ernor commenced preparations for an immediate depar- 
ture to the Southern portion of the Territory. 

He left Lawrence the morning of June 9th, by pri- 



Tha Visit of Gov. Denver. 229 

vate conveyancPj and attended by a retinue of gentle- 
men rejjresenting both the Pro- Shivery and Free State 
parties of Kansas. In the train were ex-Gov. Kobin- 
son, Judge Wright, Babb of the Cincinnati Gazette, 
etc. After many vexatious delays in consequence of 
the streams all being flooded by recent rains, the Gov. 
and his suite arrived at Moneka, Linn Co., a small 
town about thirty miles north of Fort Scott, the even- 
ing of June 12th. They had then entered the troubled 
region. At Moneka they remained over night. 

The news of the Governor's arrival South spread with 
rapidity over the country, producing in the breasts of 
the harassed settlers all manner of conjecture as to his 
probable course of action. The prevailing belief was 
that he would at least mete out partial justice to the 
freemen of the Territory, but great fears were enter- 
tained that Montgomery and those who had so nobly 
acted in defence of the settlers, would be deemed 
criminals, Wiidi jeoparded by the arrival of the Governor. 
Scores of writs had been issued on trumped-up charges 
by the civil authorities of Fort Scott against some of 
the most inoffensive men in the Territory, and a gene- 
ral desire was manifested by the settlers to learn what 
disposition he intended making of those bogus man- 
date?!. If it was his purpose to hunt down and arrest 
the men they, to a man, regarded as their protectors 
from a horde of savage ruffians, they wished to know 



230 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

it, to take measures accordingly to insure their safety 
from apprehension. 

The next morning a messenger was dispatched to 
wait on the Governor, to learn something relative to 
his purposed plans for future action, his intentions re- 
garding the multitude of bogus ivrits, etc. The even- 
ing before, the Governor had hekl a lengthy conversa- 
tion with one of the leading citizens of the place, A. 
Wattles, formerly a co-editor of the Herald of Free- 
dom, from whom he learned the true state of affairs in 
Southern Kansas. He learned that Montgomery, in- 
stead of being an outlaw, condemned by the people, 
was engaged in a popular movement, receiving the 
heart-felt approbation of the masses. He felt that he 
had been deceived by the representations of the Fort 
Scott faction, and the faimiing sycophants that filled 
his ears at Lecompton, and he decided on a policy very 
different from what they desired or expected. He was 
thus favorably disposed for the reception of the mes- 
senorer, to whom he communicated sufficient of his in- 
tentions to satisfy him that the Free State party would 
receive justice from the proposed adjustment of diffi- 
culties by the Governor, and with this assurance the 
messenger departed. 

Shortly after this interview the Governor and his 
suite took their departure for Fort Scott. They had 
journeyed about two miles when they were overtaken 



The Visit of Gov. Denver. 231 

by four or five armed horsemen, who accompanied the 
train of the Grovernor the remainder of the distance to 
the Osage. It was Capt. Montgomery and a few of 
his most trusty followers. They rode familiarly by 
the carriage of the Governor, Montgomery himself fre- 
quently joining in the conversation going forward. In 
this manner the escort proceeded until its arrival at 
RaysvilJe, where a dinner had been prepared for the 
occasion. Montgomery went to the same house that 
received the retinue of the Governor, and while the 
hostess (Mrs. Bay,) was preparing the meal, was drawn 
into conversation by Mr. Babb, a gentleman of strongly 
national j^roclivities, who reports the interview in an 
issue of the Cincinnati Gazette, (7) as follows : 

" At Raysville I found myself seated by the side 
of the guerrilla chieftain, Montgomery. He is a fine 
looking man, and in personal appearance strongly re- 
sembles John C. Fremont. He is a remarkable person 
in many respects. There is none of the swagger and 
bravado of the Jim Lane class of heroes about him. 
He talks mildly, using good English, and quotes from' 
the Scriptures freely and correctly. He is one of the 
most intelligent men I ever met with, and I learned 
more from him in an hour's conversation concerning 
the political history, the geology and natural resources 
of the Territory, than I had previously acquired from 
Prof Daniels and all the men of science with whom I 
am acquainted in Kansas," etc., etc. 



232 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

After dinner was over, the Governor and suite ad- 
journed to where some rude accommodations for speak- 
ing had been prepared by the muldtude who had col- 
lected to see the Governor, and hear him announce his 
policy for an adjustment of existing difficulties. They 
came from all parts of the county on horse back and 
on foot, armed with that invariable accompanyment 
of the Kansas settler, the rifle, and a decent silence 
was preserved during the short speech the Governor 
made the assemblage. It was plain and practical in 
character, referring chiefly to the unquiet state of the 
Territory, and presenting, in brief, his plan for the 
adjustment of difficulties. The imperfect synopsis of 
his remarks is as follows : — (8) 

" Fellow citizens ! I have come to Southern Kansas 
at your urgent solicitations, to assist by my presence, 
in removing existing difficulties from your midst. In 
the prosecution of my purpose, I shall treat the actual 
settlers without regard to past difference — I shall know 
no name and know no party. I do not i^ropose to dig 
up or review the past. I believe both parties have 
been to blame for by-gone difficulties, but with that 
1 have nothing to do. My mission is to secure peace 
for the future. I propose as the basis for an agree- 
ment, whereby to produce tranquillity throughout the 
Territory, the following conditions : 

First, the withdrawal of the troops from Fort Scott : 



Tlie Visit of Gov. Denver. 233 

Second, the election of new county officers in Bour- 
bon Co. l)y the citizens of the county, irrespective of 
party : 

Third, the stationing of troops along the Missouri 
frontier, to protect the settlers of the Territory from 
future invasions : 

Fourth, the suspension of the execution of all old 
writs until their legitimacy is authenticated hefore 
the proper tribunal : 

Fifth, the abandonment of the field by Montgomery 
and his men, and all other parties of armed men, 
whether Free State or Pro-Slavery. 

When the Governor concluded his remarks, he took 
his seat amid the rapturous applause of the assembled 
settlers. His proposed policy was so different from 
what they expected, that it took some time to form 
the neio idea in their minds, and accustom themselves 
to its proper signification. What, remove their olden 
enemies, the troops, from the Fort ? The news seem- 
ed almost too good to be real ! The old officers of the 
county, elected by the Fort Scott influence, were 
scarcely less distasteful. What wonder then the stout 
yeomanry of the Osage rent the air with their plaudits 
on learning that such a radical reform was in contem- 
plation ! 

Immediately after concluding, he commenced pre- 
paring for his departure, and while the cortege was 



234 Kansas m Eighteen Fifty-Eigld. 

getting in readiness, Montgomery came forward and 
briefly addressed the assemblage as follows : 

" Fellow Citizens ! I have listened with great at- 
tention to the remarks which you have just heard, 
and it gives me much pleas ii'-e to be able to say that 
I mainly agree with them. On behalf of the citizens 
of Southern Kansas, I thank the Chief Magistrate of our 
distracted land for the spirit of justice by which he seems 
actuated. All the Free State party desires injustice ; 
it has been a stranger to it a long time, and will hail 
this fair and honorable agreement with delight. That 
part of the agreement which refers to myself is partic- 
ularly pleasing. In the last seven months I have not 
been as much as a fortnight at home, and a return to 
it will give me sincere pleasure. It has not been 
choice that has kept me away, but necessity. While 
my country needed my services I could not leave the 
field, however great the temptation to do so. To-day 
three hundred men follow, wdien needed, the banner 
and fortunes of Montgomery. When the Gov. re- 
deems his pledges given to-day, I will disband these 
men and retire to my cabin home, there to remain. — 
As long as the Gov. and his friends respect their side 
of the treaty, I and my party will respect ours.'' 

The Gov. and his suit had left while Montgomery 
was speaking, and when he concluded, he and his fol- 
lowers mounted their horses and rode after the cortege, 



The Visit of Gov. Denver. 235 

traveling in the direction of the Marmaton. The 
I^arty staid that night among the settlers of the Mar- 
maton, and 'the next morning crossed the river and 
entered Fort Scott. The residents of the town were 
expecting the Gov., and everything was in readiness 
to do honor to his arrival. Quite a number of the 
citizens of the county had collected in the Fort, either 
coming singly, or accompanying the escort of the Gov. 
The villains of the stamp of Brocket c& Co. had all 
left the place, but it still harbored a horde of ruffians 
who, though less noted, were not a whit behind their 
superiors in the disposition to commit mischief. They 
were all in fine spirits, regarding the visit of the Gov. 
as a triumph over the " Abolitionists," and after din- 
ner he was conducted by the leading citizens to the 
place for speaking amid the cheers of the populace. 

His remarks were chiefly a repetition of his speech 
at Kaysville, but very differently were they received 
by the Fort gentry, from what they were by the bold 
freemen of the Osage. Had a thunder storm sudden- 
ly overspread the clear sky, and dropped its bolts of 
wrath at their feet, they could not have been more as- 
tounded than they were to hear such language drop- 
from the lips of Gov. Denver. Astonishment at first 
kept the ruffians speechless, but ere he concluded his 
remarks, they had gathered in groups, and their 
muttered comments, and sullen, dissatisfied visages, 



236 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight.' 

gave ample evidence tliat the policy of the Gov. was 
but illy relished by the denizens of Fort Scott. One 
of the most conspicuous of the ruffians was ex- Gov. 
Eamson, formerly Governor of Michigan. His ante- 
cedents are somewhat curious. While Gov. of Mich- 
igan he was an uU7^a anti-Slavery man, sent a Free- 
Soil message to the Legislature, and was boisterous in 
his denunciations of " Southern Slave-whipping ras- 
cals/' to use his own words. For this he was voted a 
deserter from the Democratic ranks, and ejected from 
the party. He next tried to supersede Gen. Cass in 
the U. S. Senate, by a secret combination with the 
Whig members of the Legislature. Failing in this 
movement, he emigrated to Kansas, and identified him- 
self with the Pro-Slavery party of the Territory. He 
soon distinguished himself for the violence with which 
he espoused his 7ieiu princiiyles, and in '57 was nomi- 
nated for Congress by the Pro-Slavery i^arty, in op- 
position to M. J. Parrott, nominated by the Free 
State party. Some of his antecedents leaking out, he 
failed to receive the full Pro- Slavery vote, and was 
defeated by a large majority, since which period he 
has chiefly resided in Fort Scott, and has been more 
or less concerned in all the acts of ruffianism for which 
that town is notorious. 

On the occasion of the Governor's visit, he was one 
of the leading spirits of the ruffian element of the 



The Visit of Gov. Denver. 237 

Fort, and one of the most open in his expressions of 
disapprobation of the defined policy of the Governor. 
Kespect for his office kept him from giving loose rein 
to his passions while he was speaking, but when his 
place was filled by a successor, that restraint was re- 
moved. While one of the suite (Judge Wright) was 
speaking of the disreputable character of the place, 
Ransom stepped up to him in an authoritative manner, 
and shaking his fist under his nose, said : 

'' That's a G'-'-^ d'^^-^^-'^'-^d lie ! And we don't allow 
any one to come into Fort Scott and talk as you do ! 
We rule the roast here !" 

A scene of wild confusion ensued. The allies of 
Eansom pressed around him, whipping their revolvers 
from their pockets, and the friends of Wright thronged 
to his side, in no wise dismayed by the hostile demon- 
strations of Ransom and his confederates. A general 
melee would in an instant have commenced, had not 
Gov. Denver risen and sternly rebuked Ransom for his 
interference, in the harmony of the proceedings. ^' I 
have," he said, " adopted a policy, fair and honorable 
to both parties, to establish peace, and, when I have, 
with difficulty, succeeded, you come and throw a fire- 
brand to destroy all the good the carrying out of my 
policy would accomplish. Stand back V 

The discomfited Ransom slunk back, cowed by the 
firmness of the Gov., and the Judge recommenced his 



238 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eigld. 

remarks^ wliicli he was allowed to finish without far- 
tjier interruption. Ex-Gov. Kobinson and a number 
of other speakers succeeded him, their moderate sen- 
timents awakening no second outburst of the ruffians, 
but the fires were only slumhermg and needed but a 
breath to blow them into flames. When the speaking 
concluded, the assemblage dispersed in every direction, 
but the feeling against the policy of the Gov. in no 
wise abated, and many a man slept on his arms that 
night in Fort Scott, not knowing what the next mo- 
ment would bring forth. 

The next day arrangements were entered into by the 
Gov. and the citizens of the town for the immediate 
carrying out of his poKcy. A day was set for the set- 
tlers of the county to assemble at Fort Scott, to elect 
new county officers, and the company of infantry sta- 
tioned at the Fort, received orders to prepare for an 
immediate departure to the northern part of the Ter- 
ritory. There were many expressions of dissatisfaction, 
among the Fort gentry, at the course of the Gov., but 
his mind was made ujd and could not be diverted from 
its purpose. 

The morning of June 16th, the Gov. and his suite 
left Fort Scott. They appeared to be in fine spirits, 
and on arriving at the Marmaton, some of the party 
indulged in the luxury of a bathe in its waters. The 
Gov. looked on, apparently enjoying the diversion, but 



The Visit of Gov. Denver. 239 

did not participate. On tlie south bank of tlie stream 
the company of infantry were encamped, waiting for 
the river to fall, to cross and proceed northward. The 
soldiers were engaged in pitching quoits, skipping 
stones across the water, or loitering idly on the bank 
of the river. As I noticed them at their various di- 
versions, I could not help thinking what a great mis- 
take Government committed in saddling such drones 
on persecuted Kansas. Upwards of $4,000,000 has 
the establishment of the federal soldiery in Kansas 
cost the National Government, and from their first 
incej)tion they have been more the/oes than the pro- 
tectors of the settlers. ^ or is it strange ! The histo- 
ry of a hundred centuries demonstrates the fact that it 
is easier for the " Ethiop to change his skin,'' than for 
a standing troop ever to be the friend of freedom. 

On arriving at the Little Osage, fifteen miles north 
of Fort Scott, an amusing incident occurred. The 
river was so swollen it was deemed unsafe to cross in 
the carriages, and one of the party swam across and 
secured an old Indian canoe on the opposite shore. 
The baggage of the party was placed in the canoe, and 
was about being paddled across, when the Governor 
concluded to go at the same time. He therefore placed 
himself in the end of the canoe, and desired those on 
shore to push 'the boat off. This, owing to the cor- 
pulency of the Governor, who is a large, fleshy man, 



240 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

weighing considerably over two hundred pounds, was 
a task requiring no small power. It was finally ac- 
complished, however, and the boat and its cargo 
launched in the Osage. It had proceeded but a few 
yards from shore, when the swift current caused it to 
roll, and in a moment the Governor was splashing in 
the water amid the tranks, portmanteaus, etc., to the 
amusement of the spectators. He showed considera- 
ble agility, and doubtless escaped better than he would 
be likely to if again placed in the same predicament. 
The residue of the party, fearful of being caught in 
the same manner, crossed by standing in their car- 
riages. 

The party arrived at Barnesville (a frontier town 
nearly due north of Fort Scott,) in season for dinner ; 
after which the Governor mixed among the people, 
freely conversing with them respecting their troubles, 
and learning their opinions as to the cause and cure 
of existing difficulties. Just before leaving the place 
a stranger rode into the town, who said that he was 
direct from the western part of Vernon Co., Missouri, 
and that Col. Titus was then in his neighborhood with 
some three hundred men, preparing for a fresh inva- 
sion of the Territory. It was known that Titus, with 
a body of men, was marching southward through 
Western Missouri, but it was not generally believed he 
meditated an invasion of the Territory, and there was 



The Visit of Gov. Denver. 241 

not much in the appearance of the stranger to strength- 
en the suspicion. He was nevertheless rather an in- 
telligent man, and possessed the " gift of gab " to a 
great degree. He favored the Governor with a great 
deal of gratuitous advise respecting the existing trou- 
bles which, he said, if followed, would establish peace 
immediately. The most prominent feature of his ad- 
vice was to declare martial law. As an inducement 
to the Governor to respond to his wishes, he said he 
would name his next hoy for him. Important as was 
this consideration, a speech to the citizens convinced 
the stranirer that the Governor did not consider the 
proposition a sufncient inducement to change his 
policy. 

The party left the town soon after the conclusion 
of the Governor's speech, and journeyed until night- 
fall, when they put up at a settler's house for the 
night. The next morning they resumed their journey, 
and a ride of three or four miles brought them to 
Choteau's Trading Post. 

Soon after their arrival, some of the party started 
for a pilgrimage to the "massacre ground," accom- 
panied by old Mr. Hairgrove, one of the survivors of 
the tragedy. They passed over the desolate country 
until they came to the spot, some three or four miles 
from the Post. On arriving there Mr. Hairgrove re- 
lated the particulars of the awful tragedy, staling the 

11 



242 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

position of the victims, their brutal murderers, etc. 
Towards the close of his description he said : — 

" There, where the earth is made porous by heart's 
blood, died poor Stillwell ; and there the noble Col- 
petzer. There lay Mr. Boss, who was killed the first 
fire, but was afterwards shot, having been mistaken by 
the rufiians for Preacher Eeed. There lay poor Camp- 
bell, whose pockets were searched before the spirit had 
fairly left the body." 

He also spoke of his son's position, who was only 
wounded through the hand and jaw. The age of the 
younger Hairgrove is about twenty-eight, and he is 
a fine looking, intelligent person. He continued : — 

" My son and I crawled down the ravine to some 
timber, where we found a spring of water, which was 
a great relief to us. The position of the victims ap- 
peared still more awful to us in consequence of the 
large flocks of crows that hovered above their bloody 
corpses, screaming frightfully." 

It was a relief to have the old man stop narrating 
the awful scene. Said he, with chocked utterance, 
Jind the tears streaming down his face, " I consider 
myself a strong-hearted man, but the recollection of 
this affair makes me weak as a child." The grass in 
the ravine where the victims bled was yellow and life- 
less, while all around it waved green and luxuriantly. 

The party returned to the Post in time for dinner, 



The Visit of Gov. Denver. 243 

after which the assembled settlers were addressed by 
the Governor, Kobinsoiij Wright, Montgomery, and 
others. Gov. Denver recapitulated his articles of 
agreement, spoke of his visit to Fort Scott, made allu- 
sion to the massacre of their citizens, expressed hi'j 
hopes that peace would soon be restored, etc., etc. 
Montgomery reiterated his speech on the Osage, his 
approval of the policy of the Governor, his willingness 
to leave the field, etc. ; and at a late hour the assem- 
blage dispersed to their respective homes. The next 
day the Governor and suite departed for Lecompton. 
The above is a brief and truthful account of the 
visit of Gov. Denver to Southern Kansas. It has 
been written without fear or favor, and with the sole 
desire to record the events of his mission as they really 
occurred. How far I have succeeded in impartially 
depicting them, I will leave those conversant with 
Kansas politics to judge. In common with the great 
mass of the settlers, at the time of the Governor's visit 
South, I entertained for his official career a high 
esteem. I saw him on more than one occasion, re- 
quiring promptness and energy, rise equal to the emer- 
gency, and rebuke the turbulent spirits around him ; 
and the respect I felt for the man ripened almost into 
admiration. His treatment too of Montgomery, with- 
out being marked, was such that the inference was 
fairly deducible that he regarded his career as justi- 



244 Kansas in Eiglitecn Fifty-Eujlii. 

fiable by circumstances, and appreciated his nobility 
of character. Judge then of my surprise in looldng 
over a late issue of the New- Yorlz Tribune, j to see a 
letter from Gov. Denver, called forth by an editorial 
of that paper on Kansas politics, in which misrepre- 
sentation of the most willful character followed mis- 
representation all throughout the lengthy epistle. I 
do not purpose replying to any of its allegations, al- 
ready so ably confuted by the journal in which it ap- 
peared, but I would ask the reader, who has met with 
the article, to contrast it "^'ith the official career of 
G-ov. Denver while in Southern Kansas, and mark the 
(jrtat discrejKincy between the two. If Gov. Denver 
was sincere in speech and action while South, he was 
insincere in his letter ; and on the other hand, if hon- 
est in the epistle, he acted lujpocritically then. In 
either case I will leave the matter to his conscience 
and his Maker. 



A Horse-Bach Bide over the Border, 245 



CHAPTER ^YL 

A HORSE-BACK RIDE OVER THE BORDER. 

♦' Now saddle El Canalo— 

The freshening wind of morn, 
DoAVn in the flowery vega, 

Is stirring through the corn ; 
The thin smoke of the ranches 

Grows red with coming day, 
And the steed's impatient stamping 

Is eager for the way!" — Bavard Taylor. 

Notwithstanding the hopes inspired in the bosoms 
of the settlers by the visit of the Governor, they were 
greatly agitated by fears of danger from another quar- 
ter. It was known that Col. Titus was encamped on 
the Missouri frontier with a large body of men, and 
rumors were daily borne over the border that he was 
waiting for a favorable opportunity to invade the Ter- 
ritoiy. These floating reports kept the country in a 
state of constant alarm, and seriously interfered with 
the permanent establishment of peace ; the settlers 
scarcely daring to pursue their daily avocations un- 
armed, or in an isolated manner, for fear of an attack. 
I had been desirous of making a tour through some of 



246 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

the border counties of Missouri for some time, and I 
concluded I would satisfy myself of the uncertainty 
existing in regard to the purjDOse of Titus, by taking 
a ride to the neighborhood of his camp. 

The morning of the 21st of June, I left the Osage 
for my contemplated journey. The animal I rode was 
an Indian pony — one of the best of that valuable 
breed — fleet, hardy and gentle. He did not look that 
morning as if equipped for merely a pleasure ride of a 
few hours. In front of the high-bowed trooper-saddle, 
holsters with a brace of heavy pistols were secured. 
A blanket, tightly rolled, and a pair of saddle-bags, 
containing some provision and a number of little es- 
sentials, were fastened on behind, and a lariet rope was 
coiled around his graceful neck. I bade good-bye to 
the friend who accompanied me a short distance, and 
keeping the timber of the Little Osage to my left, rode 
eastward in the direction of the Missouri line. 

The day Yv'as auspicious. A storm the preceding 
night had purified the atmosphere, and the morning 
air blew fresh and invigoratingly over the prairies. 
The scenery, though tame, was graceful and pleasing. 
Plains too broad for the eye to compass, and variega- 
ted with beautiful flowers and undulating like gentle 
swells of the ocean, save where here and there the 
prairie would shoot up into bold prominence ; and 
streams skirted by lines of wood and scattering groves, 



A Horse-Back Ride over the Border. 247 

were the chief components of the landscapes presented 
to my notice. 

On I rode, keeping the Osage a few miles to the 
north of me, so as to head off the innumerable little 
streams and ravines putting into it, and yet be suffi- 
ciently near for it to be an index to my course. About 
noon I arrived at a small stream of running water near 
the line between Missouri and Kansas, where I stop- 
ped to rest and partake of some of the edibles in my 
saddle-bags. I larieted out my horse where he could 
find plenty of good grass, and then proceeded to attend 
to my own creature necessities. I had unconsciously 
selected a spot of great beauty. The bank: sloped 
moderately down to the stream, and scattered thickly 
among the luxuriant grass was a great variety of wild 
flowers. After finishing my repast, I threw myself 
upon the velvety sward to rest for a few moments be- 
fore resuming my journey. The flowers around at- 
tracted my attention and wooed me to an examination 
of their loveliness. Although the offspring of a prairie 
solitude, their formation was fair and delicate, and 
their gorgeous colors comprised all the hues of the 
rainbow. One leading the life I had of necessity lead 
in the Territory, has little opportunity to cultivate a 
taste for the beautiful, or think of aught save the 
hazardous undertakings of the moment. Like the 
rude scenes by which he is surrounded, his feelings 



248 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

grow hard and callous. A hundred times I had rode 
over kindred plants, crushing them without a thought, 
but that day they awakened memories in my mind 
that had long slumbered — memories of the time when 
I would have shrunk aghast could the vision of the 
part in life I have since played been then unfolded 
to me, and I blessed them for their teachings. 

As I advanced into Missouri, the country became 
more thickly settled, but the habitations were of the 
poorest description, and the inmates were of the most 
squallid and filthy order. The quarters for the ne- 
groes were mere pens of logs, not half as comfortable 
or respectable as our northern farmers use for corn- 
houses and hog-pens. There was an occasional ex- 
ception in the shape of some thrifty farm-house, evi- 
dently the habitation of some " Yankee Settler," but 
the buildings, as a class, wore a ruinous, thriftless look, 
sad to contemplate. They were almost invariably 
one story, with an open hall running through, sepa- 
rating the dwelling into two parts ; one of which 
would be used as Idtchen and slee^^ing room for the 
men, the other as parlor and bed-chamber for the 
women. It being the season for hoeing the corn crop, 
the slaves of the various plantations were nearly all in 
the fields at labor. I passed by one large plantation 
where there were twenty or twenty-five slaves in one 
field, all busied either in hoeing the green shoots, or 



A Horse-Bach Ride over the Border. 249 

driving the team ; while the overseer, a young man, 
with a large straw hat to shade him from the sun, 
with whip in hand, sat on the fence leisurely ob- 
serving their actions and occasionally speaking in a 
peremptory tone to some one of the negroes. A little 
further on, and screened from the observation of the 
overseer by an intervening strip of timber, T met a 
slave on horse-back, of whom I inquired the name of 
the owner of the plantation 1 had just passed. 

" 0, dat's Massa G — s,'' he answered pleasantly, 
"and I am one of his boys." 

" Are#all the negroes I see yonder his slaves ?'' 
" Yes, sah ! and Massa G — owns heaps and heaps 
more of niggars ; tree oder plantations full ob slaves 
in oder places." 

" Is he kind to you, this Massa G — ?'' 
" Yes, sah ! Massa G— is for de most part. Massa 
G — do well enuf, but," lowering his voice as he spoke 
and pointing in the direction of the field where the 
others were at work, "datoberseer yonder, when any- 
ting go wrong wid poor niggar, is de berry d — 1 !" 
" You would like to be a freeman then, I suppose ?" 
" Yes, sah, deed I would ! Dinah and me has versed 
togeder about if de war went on, mebbe Massa Mont- 
gomery would come over wid his men and set all de 
niggars free, but day say dat peace is making Up and 

dar's no furder hope for de liberation ob poor Julius." 

11- 



250 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight, 

I rode on and on, now leaving the Little Osage far 
to tlie north and piusning a southward course through 
Vernon Co., agreeable to the instructions of those con- 
versant with the situation of the camp of Titus. The 
country was not so rolling as I advanced southward, 
and the soil was of a darker, richer quality. The 
fields of wheat, oats, &c., ^^romised an abundant har- 
vest, and the orchards of apple, peach and cherry look- 
ed thrifty, and indicated a luxuriant yield of fruit. — 
Early cherries and apples were already ripe and were 
of the finest taste and flavor. I would occasionally 
stop my horse to converse with some of the more in- 
telligent of the planters ; the most of whom appeared 
to be quietly disposed and to deprecate the ill-feeling 
existing between Missouri and the Territory. Occa- 
sionally I would meet with a genuine " border-ruf- 
fian," who would seem disposed to pry rather closely 
into my business, but a hint that my mission was not 
of a communicative character, or a significant move- 
ment of my hand towards my pistol case, generally 
enabled me to get along without serious impediment. 

I journeyed until night fall, when I stopped at the 
house of one of the apparently better class of settlers, 
and asked permission to remain over night. My re- 
quest was readily granted, my horse was taken by one 
of the sons of the head of the household, and I was 
conducted by my host into the large sitting room of 



A Horse-Bach Ride over the Border. 251 

the dwelling, and introduced to the family, consisting 
of liis wife and several grown-up sons and daughters. 
The name of my kind entertainer was Gray. The 
family had emigrated from Western New York some 
six or seven years previous, and their sympathies were 
all on the side of freedom. Fully satisfying myself of 
their sincerity, I communicated to them something of 
my character, purpose in visiting Missouri, etc. They 
informed me that the camp of Titus was about ten 
miles south of them, but that of his intentions they 
were ignoi-ant. They assured me that his course was 
disapproved of by many of the citizens, among whom 
a radical change was taking place on the subject of 
emancipation. I left this hospitable family early the 
next morning, and continued my journey southward. 
On parting I offered to compensate my host for the 
trouble I had occasioned his household, but he would 
not hear to receiving anything, and with many thanks 
I bade him and family a regretful adieu. 

The morning was somewhat warmer than the one 
preceding it, but the heat was not unpleasant, and 
my steed being fresh I made rapid progress towards 
the place where Titus and his men were said to be 
encamped. It was nearly noon when I arrived in the 
vicinity of Drywood, a small stream flowing into the 
Osage, where Titus had last had his camp. My plan 
of proceedure was to presume on a slight acquaintance 



252 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

contracted with Col. Titus while in Kansas Cit^ and 
openly claim the hospitality of his camp. Circum- 
stances, however, entirely altered my preconceived 
policy. On arriving at the camping ground, which 
was situated in a cove of timber near Drywood, I 
found it deserted, save by a few belonging to the ex- 
pedition, who were busied in loading the heavier 
camping furniture on some wagons preparatory to fol- 
lowing the main body. 

They were so intent on their employment that they 
did not notice my approach until I reined my horse 
in their very midst, and then, taking me for a new 
recruit to their company, they said : 

" The camp broke up hours ago, and the men are 
miles ahead by this time, so if you wish to overtake 
them you must hurry on after them !" 

I was about to reply, correcting the mistake I saw 
they labored under, when the idea occurre'd to me 
that by allowing them to think I was connected with 
the expedition I might possibly learn something of 
value respecting their future movements, and I ac- 
cordingly made reply : 

"Well, I don't know whether it will pay to join 
your leader or not. I don't know that I fairly un- 
derstand what is to be done, any how. What are the 
first objects of the enteri^rise ?" 

The person who appeared to be the leader in the 



A HoTse-Bach Bide over the Border. 253 

little party came to my side, and as he apjDroaclied 
me, said : 

" I expect you are a friend to our company, but I 
may as well be sure of the fact," and threw me a sign 
then customary in all the secret orders of Western 
Missouri. 

Fortunately for me I had learned its counterpart, in 
common with a number of others, a short time previ- 
ous, of a Free State settler, who had several brothers 
in Missouri, and I was thus able to return the secret 
test of brotherhood. 

*^ You are really ignorant then of the purpose of 
our company ?" he inquired. 

" I am,"' I responded, " entirely ignorant." 

" I will tell you, then," he replied, " all that I my- 
self know. We expect soon to be joined by Capt. 
Hamilton and his party, who are to come up the Ar- 
kansas river. We will then proceed to Arizona, which 
our leader, Hamilton, and others, say they are deter- 
mined to make a Slave State at all hazards. They 
say that the " abolitionists " got ahead of them in 
Kansas, but they defy them to compete with them in 
Arizona. You had better join us for we also mean to 
make it pay. We are going to try the mines first, 
and if mining don't pay, we are going South to Son- 
ora and other places, and plunder the rich churches 
and convents." 



254 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

I told him that I could not possibly join that day, 
but I would think the matter over, and if I concluded 
to accompany them, I would follow and overtake them 
on the morrow. 

" You had better come/' said he, as I rode off, " we 
will have rare sport before the ' States' see us again." 

" Perhaps I may," said I, and thus closed my first 
and last interview with the followers of the notorious 
Col. Titus. 

After leaving the deserted camp, I turned my horse's 
head northward, and allowed him to give full vent to 
the superabundant spirits I had been compelled to 
more or less restrain ever since I first vaulted into the 
saddle the morning of my departure. Well through- 
out that long afternoon did he sustain the vaunted 
endurance of his breed. No whip or spur was needed 
to quicken his speed, but whether on level plain or 
crossing dangerous ravine, his fleet lope, unchecked by 
bridle-rein, would have been the same. Even when 
the light foam flew from his nostrils, and I reined 
him in from sympathy for his heated condition, he 
chafed under the restraint and would gladly have re- 
sumed his native gallop. 

Nicrht set in when I was within a mile or two of 
the line where I intended crossing into the Territory, 
and I had as yet met with no habitation of the class I 
hoped to meet with to receive me for the night. All 



A Horse-Back Bide over the Border. 255 

the buildings I had passed in the last two hours' ride 
had been the filthy, wretched dwellings of the native 
Missourians, and I knew by experience the character 
of the inmates of such tenements, but the rapid ap- 
proach of darkness made the necessity of some shelter 
apparent, and I at last approached a house of rather 
more promising exterior than those I had been pass- 
ing ; hitched my horse to an adjacent tree, and knock- 
ed for admittance. The house was some distance from 
the road-side and near a strip of timber. Quite an 
uproar burst from the inmates simultaneously with 
my knock, which prevented it from being heard. lu 
the burst of merriment I recognized the voices of seve- 
ral men. I stepped back from the door, approached 
its one front window, and looked within. A wild, 
rude scene was revealed to my gaze. Around a plain 
deal table were seated three or four men, engaged in 
playing cards. On the table was a large jug, around 
which were several glasses filled with liquor of some 
description, and between which and the lips of the 
men there seemed to exist an intercourse of the most 
friendly character. In one corner of the room several 
rifles leaned against the rude logs composing the 
building. An old hag of a woman, stirring something 
over an open fire, completed the view. A very brief 
inspection of the interior of the dwelling satisfied me, 
and without repeating my demand for admittance, I 



256 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

noiselessly as possible remounted my horse and rode 
'from the place. 

I walked my horse a mile or so through the dark- 
ness, when I entered a small strip of timber, where I 
concluded I would remain until morning. I dismount- 
ed, removed my blanket and saddle-bags from the 
horse ; took off the saddle, and led him a short dis- 
tance to where he could get plenty of both grass and 
water. I then returned, and with some matches and 
dry twigs, soon had a good fire blazing. I had some 
provisions still remaining in my saddle-bags, which I 
drew forth, and after eating heartily, still had a small 
quantity left for morning. The only drawback to my 
comparative comfort was the fear I entertained of be- 
ing overcome by slumber and attacked by the wolves 
that infest the prairies, while in a defenceless state. 
It was not that harmless little animal called the prairie 
wolf I feared — they though troublesome are never dan- 
gerous ; but there are other beasts that at night steal 
forth from their haunts and roam the prairie, far more 
formidable in aspect and character. These are the 
large white and gray wolv^es, and their deep howl 
when heard is suggestive of something far from plea- 
sant. They are quite scarce in Kansas, but are occa- 
sionally seen, and when fierce and desperate by starva- 
tion, have been known to attack the settlers. I 
gathered in a sufficient quantity of wood to keep up 



A Horse-Bach Bide over tlie Border. 257 

a fire till morning ; brought my horse close to the 
blaze, where he would be secure, and resigned myself 
to a night of vigil. My situation was by no means an 
enviable one. The night was chill, damp, and dark, 
a heavy dew falling, and the air blowing coolly from 
the prairies. Sleep also frequently almost overcame 
me, and I was forced to think of nearly all the expe- 
dients of which I had ever heard to keep awake. I 
relived former scenes of pleasure, recalled familiar 
faces to memory, and pictured in fancy their far-distant 
and widely different situations. A stillness, almost to 
oppression, reigned over the solitary place save when 
the howl of some roaming wolf would break upon the 
quietude of nature with startling distinctness. All 
throughout the summer night I kept vigil, and gladly 
did I welcome the first faint streaks of light in the 
east that betokened the coming dawn. I then picket- 
ed my horse out to graze, and while he was snatching 
a hurried breakfast, finished the scanty remains of my 
wallet. Ere the sun had risen I was in the saddle, 
and a sharp ride of half an hour bore me beyond the 
border and in the Territory. 

I rode slowly over the familiar plains I had passed 
in the commencement of my journey^ and about 
sunset once more drew rein in the village of Kays- 
ville. My horse was taken care of by one of the 
villagers, and after partaking of some refreshments, 



258 Kansas m Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

I retired to obtain some rest after tlie fatigues of the 
journey. 

I had been asleep perhaps two or three hours^ when 
I was awakened by the heavy tramp of horses and the 
loud sounds of voices, apparently in front of the house. 
It proved to be Sheriff Roberts of Fort Scott, who, 
with a posse, was in pursuit of some Jayhawkers who 
had stolen some horses of a settler living near Fort 
Scott. The party remained over night at Raysville, 
and the room in which I slept was soon crowded with 
the members of the posse, who by their conversation, 
jokes, etc., prevented me from getting much sleep the 
remainder of the night. 



Peace JEstahlished. 259 



CHAPTEE XYII. 

PEACE ESTABLISHED. 

" The warfare of the border 

Long waged, at last did cease, 
And all the fair land over 

Waved the white wings of peace." — Anonymous. 

The stipulations of the Governor were rigidly ad- 
hered to by the Free State settlers of Southern Kan- 
sas. Capt. Montgomery disbanded his men immedi- 
ately after the departure of the Governor, and retired 
from the field. The citizens of Bourbon Co. assem- 
bled at Fort Scott on the day specified, and enter- 
ed into an election for county officers, which, not- 
withstanding the exertions of the denizens of the Fort, 
resulted in the election of Free State officers throusih- 
out. The articles of the agreement relative to the 
establishment of military out- posts along the line was 
also faithfully carried out. Major Weaver was in- 
structed to station himself at Choteau's Trading Post, 
and enlist a sufficient number of men to insure the 
protection of the settlers against future invasions, by 



260 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

the Missourians, of the Territory. The trooj^s of the 
Fort had gone northward, and the policy of the Gov. 
had thus been carried out in every particular. 

The result of these wise and beneficial measures, al- 
though highly gratifying to the long harassed settlers, 
were occasionally alloyed by circumstances of an un- 
pleasant character. The one that menaced the har- 
mony of the existing relations between Missouri and 
the Territory to the greatest extent, was the unpro- 
voked assassination of a Free State settler by a gang 
of border ruffians. The circumstances of the case are 
briefly as follow : 

Two Free State men, by the name of Harris and 
Pope, who resided on the Little Osage, had their 
horses stolen from them by a party of maurauding 
Missourians. They pursued them over the border in 
the hope of recovering their property, and when near 
Papinsville, Bates Co., they were taken prisoners by 
the plundering party, conveyed to a wood near at 
hand, and deliberately shot down and left for dead. 
One was instantly killed by the first volley, but the 
other, although receiving two balls in his person, final- 
ly recovered consciousness and managed to make his 
way back again into the Territory. Again the Little 
Osage was visited, and after the second foray of Mis- 
sourians, an earnest request was sent Montgomery to 
return to the Osage, if it was but for a brief period, 



Peace Established. 261 



to give them the benefit of his name. He returned 
?],nswer that he had pledged his word to the Governor 
to leave the field, and he would not take up arms un- 
less the Pro- Slavery party grossly violated the treaty 
made by him. 

Another circumstance occurring shortly after, illus- 
trates even more strikingly thp nice sense of honor 
possessed by Montgomery. An old follower of Mont- 
gomery's, by the name of Marshall, had been arrested 
by the civil authorities of the Fort on an old writ, 
conveyed to that place and kept in custody. The 
settlers of the Osage, where Marshall lived, were high- 
ly indignant at this procedure of their Fort Scott 
neighbors, regarding it as a pointed insult and a de- 
sire on their part to renew hostilities, and sent a hasty 
message to Montgomery requesting his presence on the 
Osage. Montgomery hurried down and found the set- 
tlers in a state of great excitement. They considered 
that this gross breach of faith on the part of their old 
enemies absolved them from their allegiance to the 
treaty, and urged Montgomery to once more take the 
field, pledging him their olden devotion to his stand- 
ard if he would accede to their wishes. Instead of 
yielding to their requests, Montgomery indited a note 
to the proper officer of the Fort, informing him of 
the breach of faith in the arrest of young -Marshall, 
hinting at the probable consequence of a refusal to re- 



262 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

lease him, etc., whicli he despatched by a trusty mes- 
senger to Fort Scott, and in less than twenty-four 
hours Marshall was once more on the Osage. A re- 
newal of hostilities was thus prevented by the politic 
course of Montgomery, plainly proving that he pre- 
ferred honorable peace when it could be preserved, to 
the evils of guerrilla warfare. 

About this time an incident worthy of note occurred 
on the frontier of Linn Co. A few Free State men, 
under command of Snyder, the hero of the Marais dQs 
Cygnes massacre, went to Missouri, to search for a 
man by the name of Mattock, whom he at the time 
recognized as one of the perpetrators of the tragedy 
mentioned. They proceeded into the State about 
twelve miles, when they arrived at the place where he 
made his home. Not finding him in the house, they 
proceeded to the barn, where they found him asleep 
on some hay, with a bowie-knife by his side, and a 
Colt's revolver under his head. One of Snyder's par- 
ty then stood over him with a rifle pointed at his 
breast, while another awoke him. On awakening, he 
grasped his revolver, but on realizing the situation in 
which he was placed, he reluctantly gave himself up 
a prisoner. The party then returned to the Territory 
without encountering any danger in the bold exploit. 
The prisoner was conducted to Paris, Linn Co., where 
he was confined in the log jail, heavily chained and 



Peace Established- 263 

closely guarded. A few weeks after his imprisonment 
some individuals made an attempt to take him out 
and lynch him, but the citizens of the county, evinc- 
ing that disposition which has ever characterized the 
Free State party, and is so adverse to the fiendish pol- 
icy pursued by their Pro- Slavery antagonists, interfer- 
ed, and prevented the violent intentions of the lynch- 
ers from beins: executed. At first he denied all com- 
plicity with the ruffians of Hamilton, but on being- 
confronted by one of the wounded men, he confessed 
to being in the party, but denied participating in the 
fatal fire. I visited him in his ]3rison and learned the 
particulars of the Post tragedy, and the proceedings 
of Capt. Hamilton, previous to and since the massacre, 
from his own lips. 

The great change in Fort Scott, and the vigilant 
guard kept up by Major Weaver and the various com- 
panies along the line, soon inspired the settlers with 
a sense of security, and they hastened to repair as much 
as possible the loss they had sustained by not getting 
in their spring crops in season, in consequence of diffi- 
culties then existing. That loss was greater than 
those unacquainted with the limited dependencies of 
the frontier settler would suppose. Indian corn, the 
chief support of the squatter, had been planted in but 
few places when serious disturbances commenced in 
Southern Kansas, and by the time peace was restored 



264 Kansas in Eigliteen Fifty-Eight. 

it had grown so late that in all places where the 
ground was unprepared to receive the crop, it could 
not be got in readiness in season for the seed to ripen 
into maturity. Hence, in many localities, but a small 
portion of land w^as planted with that almost indis- 
pensable article of food in a new country. The scat- 
tering patches of w^heat, owing to the inattention paid 
them by their owners, who were forced to think only 
of their own protection, were trampled down by the 
horses and cattle running wild on the prairie, and in 
many cases rendered unfit for use. Manfully the set- 
tlers strove to overcome these disadvantages, and 
though they partially succeeded, grim poverty must 
hang close around many a squatter's home in Kansas 
the coming winter. 

All throughout the month of June, emigration flow- 
ed rapidly into the Southern part of the Territory, and 
the change wrought in the appearance of things by 
the few wrecks following the cessation of difficulties, 
was almost ma2;ical. The deserted cabins once more 
wore the look of life ; the broken doors and dilapida- 
ted fences were repaired ; the gardens cleaned of their 
noxious weeds and made productive of the wants of 
the settler, and the prairie surrounding his habitation 
made to " blossom as the rose.'' New homes and new 
towns also commenced dotting the prairies in all di- 
rections, and the sharp ring of the woodman's axe, 



Peace Established. 265 



tli6 quick "gee-lio'' of the teamster^ and tlie steady 
hammer of the carpenter, was heard upon the prairies 
and along the water-courses of Kansas from early morn 
till dusk of eventide. The new comers were general- 
ly persons of some means, and as their money passed 
into the hands of the settlers, in exchange for the 
natural wants of the household, a vitality and spirit 
was imparted to the trade and business of the growing 
Territory. 

As time passed, in various parts of the Territory, 
preparations were made for the celebration of the 
rapidly approaching anniversary of American Inde- 
pendence. The settlers of Kansas, although strug- 
gling against adverse circumstances for subsistence, 
felt that they could not allow the day, dear to every 
American, to pass without testifying their thanks for 
their happy release from long-endured persecution, 
and accordingly commenced making arrangements for 
its celebration, in a manner suited to their straightened 
means and circumstances. 

The settlers in the vicinity of Sugar Mound selected 
the Mound itself as the place for their convocation, 
and on the very ground where Gen. Clarke encamped 
his men in '5Q, the assembled settlers commemorated 
the anniversary of our country's liberty, and rejoiced in 
the triumph of the principles of their forefathers on 
the disputed soil of Kansas. The Fourth coming on 



266 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight. 

the Sabbath, the citizens of Linn Co. held their cele- 
bration the third, and the day being favorable, several 
hundreds of the inhabitants of Linn and adjoining 
counties were in attendance. Capt. Montgomery was 
one of the invited speakers, and as he mounted the 
platform, amid the cheers of the assemblage, what 
marvel if across his mind swept a recollection of the 
time, when on that very spot, he confronted the 
haughty Clarke, and was forced to flee for his life ! 
His speech was such as the scene and the growing, 
hopeful condition of the Territory would naturally in- 
spire. He spoj^e of the happy termination of difficul- 
ties ; of the thanks due to the Grreat Supreme for 
vouchsafing to them the blessings of peace ; of the 
importance of the settlers turning their attention to 
establishino' schools for the education of their children ; 
of the need of churches, a regular ministry, etc. Seve- 
ral other addresses were pronounced by invited speak- 
ers : one of which, delivered by the Mr. Danford be- 
fore alluded to, was particularly eloquent and appro- 
priate. At a late hour of the day the assemblage dis- 
persed to their respective homes, highly gratified with 
the proceedings of the Celebration. 

But gratifying as was the observance of the Fourth 
at Sugar Mound to the settlers of Southern Kansas, 
its celebration the Monday following, at Raysville, 
Bourbon Co., greatly eclipsed it in numbers and in- 



Peace Established. 267 

terest. The patriotism, which inspired the settlers of 
the Osage during the gloomy period of their history, 
strikingly manifested itself in the double celebration 
of the time-honored principles of their fathers and 
their own deliverance from long-endured tyranny. 

Early on the morning of July 5thj the slumbers of the 
good citizens of the Little Osage were suddenly broken 
by some of the already assembled freemen on the ground 
of the celebration, who were giving vent to their patriot- 
ism by firing a national salute from a small cannon they 
had secured for the occasion. The sun had scarcely 
risen above the green slopes of the prairie, when in 
every direction might be seen the beauty and strength 
of Northern Bourbon Co., coming on horse-back and 
in wagons, to celebrate the anniversary of our country's 
liberty. 

The first ceremonial of the day was one of an affect- 
ing and highly interesting character. It was the pre- 
sentation of a suit of new clothes to Capt. Montgom- 
ery by the ladies of the Little Osage. The presenta- 
tion was performed by Mrs. H. Gr. Moore in a graceful 
manner, who added a few well-timed remarks, to the 
effect that as he had worn out his clothes in their de- 
fence, it was their duty as well as pleasure to present 
him with a new apparel, and, on behalf of the ladies 
of the Osage, begged him to accept the gift as a slight 
testimonial of their esteem, etc., etc. 



268 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight. 

The man who had stood undaunted, calm, and re- 
solute in many a scene of danger and infased in the 
followers around him a portion of his own fearless 
bravery, was visibly aifected at thus hearing his praises 
from the grateful lips of woman. On receiving the 
offering he responded in a speech of brief duration, 
evincing deej) emotions and feelings of the tenderest 
kind. The ceremony occurred at an early hour, and 
was witnessed by hundreds of spectators, who gave 
evidence, by the wrapt attention they paid to the pro- 
ceedings, that they fully approved and appreciated 
the act. It was a proud day for the friends and fol- 
lowers of Montgomery, to see the man they loved and 
resj)ected thus publicly honored by the grateful popu- 
lace, but while their countenances reflected the joy of 
their hearts, his alone wore the olden look of placid 
dignity. 

The procession formed at 10 a. m., under the direc- 
tion of H. G. Moore, as Chief Marshal, marching to a 
beautiful grove near Raysville. Prayer was offered to 
the Throne of Mercies by Rev. J. Marr. The Decla- 
ration of Indej^endence was read by D. B. Jackman, 
Esq. The oration of the day was pronounced by A. 
B. Danford, of Linn Co., which in stjde and matter 
fully equalled the most sanguine expectations of his 
many warm admirers. The dinner was served up in 
the rear of the grove, and v^as of a character to do 



Peace Established. 269 

credit to the ladies, the committee of arrangement, 
and all concerned. As a thing noticahle in the din- 
ner procession, I willprivately inform the reader that 
Judge Williams of the 3d Judicial district, so far for- 
got his dignity that he walked to the table arm in arm 
with James Montgomery, without appearing to think 
that he was demeaned by such a close proximity to so 
notorious an individual. After the wants of the inner 
man were satisfied and the cloth removed, the intel- 
lectual man was treated to a lengthy feast of toasts, 
responses, repartees, etc. 

Nothing occurred to mar the harmony of the pro- 
ceedings or cast the least shadow of gloom over the 
day's festivities. Numbers were in attendance from 
disjtant parts of the Territory and Western Missouri, 
and in all the number of people assembled could not 
have been much less than a thousand. 

The celebration broke up by singing, to the tune of 
Old Hundred : 

" From all that dwell below the skies 
Let the Redeemer's praise arise ; 
Let the Redeemer's name be smig 
Through every land, by every tongue." 

Before the last rays of old Sol departed from the 
valley of the Osage, the enlivening sounds of music 
were heard in the large, new hall just erected by the 



270 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

enterprisiiig brothers Eay, where the " light fantastic 
toe " was tripping itself in the merriest manner. There 
was not the splendor and glitter of the eastern ball- 
room that summer night on the fair bank of the 
Osage, but there was " beauty unadorned " and "man- 
ly worth," and as happy hearts beat beneath the spot- 
less muslin and simple linen, as ever throbbed under 
the richest silk, or most glossy broadcloth. The " wee 
small hours of morn " came and passed unheeded by 
the merry dancers, and nothing but the aj)proach of 
day itself broke up one of the largest and most pleas- 
ant balls ever held in Bourbon Co. 

Emigration continued to flow rapidly into the 
Southern part of the Territory, and the most desira- 
ble claims near and along the timbered streams of the 
country, were rapidly taken up by the new comers. 
Many of these emigrants were young men, without 
families, who came to Kansas to secure homes for 
themselves while plenty of good land was still remain- 
ing in the hands of the government. Nearly all were 
looking forward to an early settlement in life with 
that loved one, either in flesh and blood being, or in 
Utopia. The life that some of them led was rude 
and primitive enough to satisfy the most abstemious 
anchorite. To withdraw the curtain and give the 
reader a peep into pioneer life in Kansas, I will briefly 
sketch a few actual scenes falling under my own ob- 
peryation. 



Peace Established. 271 

While a follower of the standard of Montgomery in 
Bourbon Co , I received an invitation from a comrade 
in arms to pay him a visit as soon as the difficulties 
ceased, at his bachelor cabin, on the head- waters of 
the Osage. Having a fellow sympathy for h.h forlorn 
condition, I concluded I would see how he got along 
without " man's last best gift,'' and accordingly made 
arrangements, one afternoon late in July, to pay him 
a visit. His claim being but a few miles from where 
I was staying, I started on foot for his residence. It 
was one of the wannest afternoons of that hot month. 
Not a breath of air was stirring over the open prairie. 
The clouds were like light piles of cotton, and where 
the blue sky was visible it wore a hazy and fleecy as- 
pect. The sun beat down with a fiery heat, browning 
the long grass of the plains, and curling the tall, 
green corn that in patches dotted the prairies. I 
walked slowly over the arid plain lying between Mine 
Creek and the Osage, and late in the afternoon arrived 
at the little cabin of my friend. It was pleasantly 
situated on a gentle elevation, a short distance from 
the Little Osage, and was built of rough, hewn logs, 
the interstices being filled up with some species of 
mortar. I found him within doors, suffering from a 
slight attack of the ague and from a severe visitation 
of liome sickness; the latter of which maladies, how- 
ever, he would not acknowledge to possessing, but it 



272 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

was plainly visible in the hollowness of his once round- 
ed, handsome face, and in the dejection which mark- 
ed the tone in which he replied to my inquiry whether 
he had received any late news from the east. 

Poor K ! his case was by no means an unusual 

one. One night, when the sj^irit of the past was busy 
with him and his heart yearned for sympathy, he told 
me the story of his life. It was the same old tale of 
love which, however reproduced, never palls or loses 
its pristine Eden glow with the changeful actors in 
the drama. He was a native of one of the New Eng- 
land States, and a graduate of one of her universities. 
At the time of the conception of the Lecpmpton Con- 
stitution he was betrothed to a young lady who, in 
every way, appeared to return his passion, and with 
whom he had been acquainted from childhood. They 
were to have been married early in the spring, but he 
was an ardent sympathizer with the harassed freemen 
of Kansas, and foreseeing the ordeal to which the 
-passage of that obnoxious instrument would subject 
the settlers, he conceived it to be his duty to make 
that distracted land his home until it was freed from 
the persecutions of its enemies. He accordingly wait- 
ed on the object of his affections, informed her of his 
intentions for the future, stated 'the motives which 
actuated him, and begged her permission to have their 
marriage deferred for a few months, until he could 



Peace Established, 273 

return with a satisfied conscience and fulfill liis en- 
gagement. The heart of the imperious beauty but 
illy responded to his eloquent expressions of patriot- 
ism, and when he concluded his appeal to her feelings, 
she coldly told him that he was still free and at liberty 
to go wherever he chose, but if he carried out his in- 
sane purpose of going to Kansas, she would consider 
their engagement at once and forever at an end. The 
ardent lover tried every inducement he could think of 
to shake her determination, assuring her that nothing 
but an unalterable sense of duty impelled him to such 
a step ; that his sorrow at the necessity was not less 
than her's, etc., but all to no avail, and after many 
fruitless attempts to soften her obduracy, he left her 
presence, sad and wretched at the willfulness of his 
mistress, but unshaken in his avowed purpose. Mu- 
tual friends endeavored to heal the breach between 
the unhappy lovers, but without success. The lady 
was proud and refused to recede from a position she, 
in a moment of pique, had taken, and the lofty pur- 
pose of the young man, long in conceiving, was un- 
alterable in character. 

Early in March he left his New England home, 
since which period he had iiever directly heard from 
the loved one still enshrined in memory ; and only 
rarely and at long intervals from any of his friends and 

relatives. During the difficulties, and while actiyely 

12* 



274 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

employed, he managed to subdue his feelings with 
tolerable success, and on more than one occasion he 
gave ample evidence that the blood of his revolution- 
ary sires still coursed in unimpaired vigor through his 
veins ; but when peace was secured, and he retired to 
the seclusion of his humble cabin, his feelings gradual- 
ly assumed a more melancholy character. He pos- 
sessed a fine mind, and the few choice works he had 
taken from New England, were his greatest sources of 
consolatioD. 

He gave me a cordial greeting, and drew forth from 
a corner of the cabin a home-made stool for my use. 
As he handed it to me, he said in his olden happy 
manner that he would apologize for the meagreness of 
his cabin comforts, only he knew that like him, I cared 
nothing for the superfluities of life. We drew our 
chairs in front of the open door, commanding a splen- 
did view of the winding Osage, and soon were in the 
midst of an interesting conversation. The sun was 
obscured, and the heat of the day was less intense. 
While we talked, the air began to grow fresh and 
cool ; the timber of the Osage to frown gloomily, 
while ever and anon there was a low muttering of 
thunder from the dense, black masses of clouds 
that overspread the western sky. For a time they 
were fringed with silver by the declining sun, but 
soon tlie thick pall stretched over the whole heaven, 



Peace Estahlislied. 275 

and the prairie around us was wrapped in deep gloom. 
The long grass at the edge of the river bent and rose 
mournfully with the rising gusts. Soon the storm 
broke. It came with a hurricane that swept resist- 
lessly over the prairie, dashing cataracts of water to 
the plain, and accompanied by sharj) zig-zag flashes 
of lightning, and stunning terrific peals of thunder. 
The long grass was levelled to the earth, and the firm 
rooted trees skirting the Osage, bowed like reeds be- 
fore the tempest. The first burst of the storm soon 
passed over, but for a long time the rain poured stead- 
ily. At length the clouds broke apart, the sky cleared 
in the West, and through the leafy boughs of the 
trees we saw the sun setting in a flood of crimson 
behind the distant prairie ; the broad restless bosom 
of the river was suffused with deep red, and the 
foliage of its skirting trees was crowned with the same 
fiery hue Ere long it passed away, and gloom and 
darkness reigned over the quiet valley of the Osage. 
My friend enjoyed the grand and terrible scene I 
have briefly depicted so highly, that he could not re- 
frain from occasionally giving vent to his over- wrought 
feelings by some expression of admiration, or apt quo- 
tation suggested to his poetic nature by the warring 
of the elements. When the storm was at its heio-ht 

o 

I heard him repeating some of the most sublime pas- 
sages of Childe Harold, and when at last the clouds 



276 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

drew apart, and a flood of sunbeams streamed along 
the prairie, lie turned to me with a face glowing with 
enthusiasm, and said : 

" See, how like a legion of evil spirits yon array of 
clouds is broken and scattered ! Is not this storm 
typical of the future of Kansas ? The clouds which 
have so long overspread the political sky have disap- 
peared, and like yon beauteous arch, spanning the 
prairie from North to South, the bow of peace smiles 
over the length and breadth of this long distracted 
land V 

" Yes/' I replied, '^ but while yon glorious arch is 
fleeting and perishable, may the smiles of the bow of 
peace endure and beautify to the end of time \" 

"Amen,'' responded my friend, "but while we are 
losing ourselves in the speculative realms of fancy, I 
forget that you have not yet been to supper, and stand 
in need of nourishment." 

I would have entered a protest to this, but my walk 
had given me an appetite such as I had not had for 
days, and I therefore remained silent. My friend 
bustled around the small room ; kindled a fire to boil 
some coffee, placed a frying-pan over the coals to cook 
some batter-cakes, which he had previously mixed up, 
cut a few slices of bacon to fry, etc. While the cook- 
ing was going on, he set out his table, (an old store- 
box,) in the middle of the room, placed a couple of 



Peace Established. 277 

cracked 2:)lates, a half-broken sugar bowl, a dish with 
a lump of butter, and two tea-cups, minus a saucer, 
thereon ; and as the articles before the fire were cook- 
ed, they were brought to the table, and supper was 
declared in readiness. "We drew our chairs to the 
rude board and did ample justice to the food before 
us. I could not avoid complimenting E — on his skill- 
in serving up a meal. The coifee was of an excellent 
flavor, the cakes were done to a nicety, and the bacon 
was of the right brownness. As with all his search- 
ing he could only muster one case-knife, he in courtesy 
gave that to me, and brought his pocket-knife into 
requisition the residue of the meal. The cakes unac- 
eountahly all disappearing, K — was forced to once more 
turn cook, and as he baked, he was compelled, in the 
absence of a spare dish, to deposit the cakes on the 
top of the box, much to his apparent mortification. 
He laughingly assured me that he would certainly 
have to make an addition to his outset so ihat he could 
entertain his friends in a manner more conformable to 
received usage. Still with all these little untoward 
incidents we got along admirably, and never in the 
abodes of comfort and luxury did I more thoroughly 
enjoy a meal. After supper we drew our chairs to the 
open door of the cabin. The night was ^ill warm, 
but occasionally a wandering breeze came gratefully 
to our heated brows, bearing with-it a pf^rfurae of 



278 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

roses from the distant ^^rairie. In that quiet hour the 
scent of familiar flowers awoke in the mind strange 
memories of home, and our conversation insensibly- 
lapsed into silence. As we sat enjoying the growing 
coolness of the evening, far off beyond the black out- 
line of the prairie appeared a ruddy light, steadily 
increasing like the glow of a conflagration ; until 
finally the broad disk of the moon, blood- red and great- 
ly magnified by vapors^ rose above the darkness of the 
prairie. We retained our positions until a late hour 
of the night, chatting over past adventures and en- 
joying the almost fairy beauty of the moonlit scenery, 
when we retired to rest. 

In the morning while at breakfast a neighbor stopped 
at the door and handed E — a letter. He had been 
at the office the day before, when he received it, but 
it was late when he passed by, and he thought he 
would not waken him up. I saw E — 's countenance 
brighten when he glanced at the superscription, and 
it w^s not many minutes before he had broken the 
seal, and was deep in its contents. 

^' W — ," said he at length, in his quiet manner of 
speaking, " I am going to start for the east to-mor- 
row." 

" To-morrow !" repeated I in amazement. " Why, 
what sudden whim has seized you ? What will you 
do with your claim ?" 



Peace EstahUshed. 279 



" 0, hang the claim, I'm done with it ; you, or any 
one else may have it ! I would not stay in Kansas 
another week for all the claims on the Osage \" 

Wondering more than ever at the unusual excite- 
ment of my friend, I begged him to explain himself. 

" Here," said he, " I think I may confide my joy to 
you," and he threw me the letter he had just perused. 

It was from his old betrothed. It was a true 
woman's letter. It implored him to forgive the past 
and her foolish pride ; it spoke of the misery she had 
since suffered ; of the anxiety with which she had 
looked over thelatest intelligence from Kansas, etc., and 
closed by beseeching him to return immediately. I 
glanced over it, and returned it to the now radiant 
E — , saying : 

" Go, my friend, by all means, but in your happiness 
think occasionally of him, the pooi" Borneo ivlio has no 
Juliet to hasten his returny 

" I will, I will !" he replied, " and I shall look for 
you to some day pay me a visit in my New England 
home, where I will promise you a hetter cooh and bet- 
ter fare than you have received from my hands on this 
occasion." 

As he had considerable business to attend to pre- 
vious to his departure, I shortly after took my leave 
and returned to the place from whence I started the 
day previous. The next morning, agreeable to arrange- 



280 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-EigJit 

ment, I met liim at a stoppage of the stage-coach to 
bid him a final good-bye. Notwithstanding he was 
going to meet the ^' object most loved on earth/' he 
was visibly affected, and when the driver cracked up 
his leaders for starting, his fervent pressure of the 
hand and hearty " God bless you,'' brought an un- 
usual moisture to my eyes. I never heard from him 
afterwards, and pursuing our separate ways of life we 
may never meet again on earth, but should these lines 
by chance meet his eye, well do I know they will re- 
call vividly to recollection the many, many hours we 
spent together while brothers in arms, making the 
" saddle and green wood" our home. 

Several days after the visit above related, I was in- 
vited to accompany two or three gentlemen, who had 
some business to transact in the western part of Bour- 
bon Co. We performed the journey on horse-back, 
and had a pleasant trip throughout. All along the 
route we traversed, the most surprising and magical 
changes were taking place in the appearance of the 
country. The prairies were dotted over with cabins 
and the improvements of the settlers, and in places 
favorably located, towns were building up with aston- 
ishing rapidity. Moneka, Mound City, Kaysville, etc., 
were making rapid advancements in growth and busi- 
ness. When I first visited Mound City, it only con- 
tained two houses on the town site, but at the time of 



Peace Established. 281 



whicli I write, private dwellings, business houses, etc., 
were going up in all parts of the town. Not less 
striking was the improvement taking place in Eays- 
ville. The heavy emigration flowing into the Terri- 
tory gave an impetus to all kinds of business, and 
everything wore a thriving, prosperous look. Some of 
the party were old settlers, and the time passed very 
pleasantly in conversation on the gratifying changes 
taking place in the Territoiy. Late in the afternoon 
we arrived at the cabin of a settler with whom some 
of the company v/ere acquainted. He invited us to 
remain over night with him, and as the weather look- 
ed unfavorable for night journeying, my friends deem- 
ed it prudent to accept the friendly invitation. 

We were ushered into the one room of the hause 
and regularly introduced to the wife of our host. The 
host himself was very talkative, and soon made us ac- 
quainted with the prominent events of his life. He 
was a native of the State of New Jersey, and was for 
more than a third of a century a follower of the seas. 
He had been to almost every part of the globe where 
our vessels sail. Tiring of the " Kfe spent on the 
ocean wave," he went to Kansas for the same reason 
he went to sea — because of the excitement and danger 
attendins; that hazardous life. He is a model land- 
lord, keeping travelers from motives of pure hospitali- 
ty, and invariably refusing all pay when offered. He 



282 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

lives in an open log-house with a loose floor ; enjoys 
himself after the fashion of pioneers, and boasts of his 
claim as being one of the finest in Kansas. His wife 
bustled around, and soon had a good supper of strong 
coffee, batter-cakes and fried bacon in readiness. 
After doing full justice to the repast, we withdrew 
from the table to the open door of the cabin, where 
our host entertained us with reminiscences of his sea- 
life until a late hour. 

Our hostess then informed us that our beds were in 
readiness, and we commenced arrangements for retir- 
ing. The beds designed for our accommodation were 
in the loft of theJbuilding. The mode of reaching the 
loft was as follows. — A chair was placed in the centre 
of the room, on which those who were to lodge in the 
second story, would place themselves one at a time, 
and while the others steadied the chair, put one foot 
on the top of the back, and spring up into the loft, 
which only extended half way across the building. 
This process of rising in the world was somewhat 
difficult and highly amusing. One of the party, a 
short, corpulent man, after several feints and flutter- 
ings of his loings to buoy himself for the flight, sprung 
nervously for the overhanging joist, which he succeed- 
ed in grasping, but being unable to lift his ponderous 
form to a level with the loft, he hung dangling to the 
beam, afraid to recede and unable to advance. His 



Peace EstahlisJied. 283 

unpleasant but laughable position elicited burst after 
burst of merriment from the various members of the 
party, but knowing that he could not long retain his 
holdj two of the company finally caught hold of his 
struggling legs, and assisted by a comrade in the chair, 
hoisted the unlucky wight up into the loft. As soon 
as he regained his breath, he swore that he would 
never be caught in such a fix again, if he had to sleep 
on the open prairie as the only alternative. But the 
tribulations of the company were not yet over. The 
floor of the loft was loose, and every once in a while 
some one of the party would unexpectedly come very 
nearly meeting with a downfall. The beds were 
formed of a few blankets spread over the loose boards, 
with saddles for pillows. There was no protection to 
the front side of the loft, and considerable controversy 
arose as to which should occupy the outside place. 
Some were for giving the post to the fleshy doctor on 
account of his great bulk being less likely to be dis- 
placed than that of his companions, but he objected to 
the arrangement on the ground that he might be push- 
ed out, and falling such a distance, Ms great loeiglit 
would make a catastrophe of a serious character in- 
evitable, and there would be no surgeon to attend to 
his ailments ; whereas, if some other member of the 
party occupied the dangerous position, and should 
chance to fall out and meet with a severe accident, he 



284 Kansas in Eigldeen Fifty-Eiglit. 

being a physician, could fix him up in a short time, 
and no great loss be experienced. The reasons of the 
fat Esculapian being unanswerable, the party consent- 
ed to excuse him ; and a volunteer offering to mar- 
tyrize himself by taking the dangerous position, the 
matter was amicably settled. Everything being thus 
satisfactorily arranged, all betook themselves to rest, 
and slept safe and sound till morning. Before getting 
up a vote of thanks was tendered to the hero who 
volunteered in defence of the party, on motion of the 
fieshy doctor, when we descended to the lower room, 
glad to be once more so near terra firma. 

Soon after performing our ablutions we were sum- 
moned by our hostess to an excellent breakfast, to 
which we did ample justice. The good-humored host, 
during the repast, made frequent allusions to our ad- 
ventures the night previous, and the plethoric doctor 
bore the many jokes about his suicidal attempt with 
unruffled good nature. At an early hour of the morn- 
ing we bade our entertainers good-bye -and resumed 
our journey. The business which some of the party 
had to transact was of an easily arranged chiaracter, 
and after completing it, we retraced our steps, arriving 
at our stopping places before nightfall. 

The day set for the vote on the Lecompton Consti- 
tution at length arrived. After the first burst of in- 
dignation at the passage of the English Bill had sub- 



Peace Established. 285 

sided througlioiit the Territory, but little was said 
concerning the approaching election ; and the enemies 
of freedom pleased themselves with the idea that a 
familiarity with the specious provisions of the bill had 
rendered it less rej)ugnant to the settlers, but they 
forgot that devotion to the cause of freedom had, ever 
been the chctracteristic of the freemen of Kansas. The 
offer of admission into the Union, coupled with the 
disgraceful terms of the bill, possessed no temptation 
to induce them to swerve from their olden loyalty to 
liberty ; and the alternative, ardently as they desired 
admission into the Confederacy of States, was gladly 
accepted in preference to such infamy. 

The latter part of July, ex-Secretary Stanton made 
a tour of the Southern portion of the Territory, speak- 
ing at one or more places in every countj^ He attract- 
ed large crowds of people wherever he went, and his 
speeches were characterized by the logic and eloquence 
for which he is so deservedly celebrated. He encoun- 
tered many difficulties in his journey through South- 
ern Kansas. He traveled by private conveyance, and 
the roads being bad and the streams in many parts of 
the Territory swollen so as to be unfordable, he was 
frequently delayed and compelled to travel at night 
to fulfill his announced appointments. The obstacles 
he not unfrequently met with would have deterred 
many men from attempting to meet his numerous en- 



286 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight. 

gagements ; but the indomitable energy of Stanton 
surmounted all difficulties, and in a canvass of three- 
fourths of the inhabitable portion of the Territory he 
failed to fulfill only two of his many appointments. 
On one occasion, he, in the darkness of the night, 
drove into a quag-mire, and mired down one of his 
£orses beyond the power of extricating the animal 
from his dangerous situation. He was without a com- 
panion, and as he could not leave his horses, he was 
obliged to remain all night on the open prairie. In 
the morning his unpleasant situation was discovered by 
a passing hunter, and by their united exertions, the 
horses were released, and the belated traveler enabled 
to resume his journey. On arriving at Paris, Linn 
Co., where he w^as next to speak, he gave a humorous 
account of his accident the preceding night, and said 
that the ])ledges he made the freemen of Kansas — that 
if the Lecompton Constitution was not submitted to 
the people for their acceptance or rejection, he himself 
w^ould unite with them and assist in killing the bill — 
he meant to carry out so long as strength was left him 
to lift his voice against the swindle. 

The day for the vote on the Lecompton Constitu- 
tion, the 2d of August, was ushered in under circum- 
stances of a highly unfavorable character. A severe 
and long continued storm the w^eek preceding the day of 
the election had swollen the streams so that they were 



Peace Established. 287 

utterly impassable in many places ; and this, coupled 
with the remoteness of the settlers in the sparsely 
settled iDortions of the Territory from the polls, pre- 
vented hundreds of voters from exercising the elective 
franchise. Of such vital importance to their future 
welfare, however, was the " Proposition " truly con- 
sidered by the freemen of Kansas, that in many local- 
ities the greatest possible exertions were made to poll 
as full a vote as could by any expedient be brought 
to the places of election. Horses were lent to those 
who had none of their own, and everything within the 
limited means of the friends of freedom was willingly 
done to overcome, as much as possible, the adverse 
circumstances by which they were surrounded. Still, 
with all their exertions, the vote in many places was 
small to what it would otherwise have been ; and in 
the Southern part of the Territory, where the rivers 
are deep and dangerous, quite a number of settlers lost 
their lives in fording the treacherous streams of the 
country, either in going to, or returning from the vari- 
ous places of election. Along the Neosho several lives 
were lost in this manner ; the Marmaton and the 
Osage swallowed up in their swift rushing waters the 
forms of at least four martyrs to principle, and sad 
and lonely was more than one cabin home made by 
the fatal Marais des Cygnes. 

The voting was conducted in a comparatively quiet 



288 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

manner at the various precincts throughout the Terri- 
tory. Along the frontier some illegal voting was suf- 
fered by the Free State party and the officers of the 
different election boards, but it was not practiced to 
an extent to materially interfere with the result. It 
was decidedly the fairest election ever held in the 
Territory, and the result, despite the disadvantageous 
circumstances attending it, was, in the highest degree, 
satisfactory to the friends of freedom in Kansas, and 
throughout the Union. 

When the Commissioners appointed to declare the 
result, made their official report, it was as follows : 
"To accept the English proposition, - 1,788 
To reject that proposition, - - - - 11,300" 
And so the long struggle w^as over ! The cunning- 
ly devised scheme had completely failed to accomplish 
its purpose. It had been conceived and prosecuted in 
opposition to some of the greatest minds of the party 
from which it emauated, it had shorn that j)arty of its 
power in the North, and when in its short-sightedness, 
it expected to reap the harvest of its broken faith, it 
found the coveted possession still as far beyond its 
reach as when it first attempted its subjugation. May. 
the lesson be not wholly lost on future rulers and law- 
makers ! 

The emigration from the " States^' to Kansas dur- 
ing the latter part of August and early September, 



Peace Established. 289 

greatly exceeded that of any previous portion of the 
summer, and a rapid improvement was constantly 
being wrought in the face and character of the Terri- 
tory. About this time some excitement was created 
in certain localities, by a number of young ladies tak- 
ing advantage of the preemption laws, to secure homes 
for themselves and relatives. Some of the writers 
from Kansas denounced the process by which these 
young ladies obtained their claims as reprehensible 
and deserving of censure, and considerable feeling was 
elicited in some places in regard to the subject. In 
my limited stay in the Territory, I had been impressed 
a number of times with the heroism manifested by the 
women of Kansas ; and although my allusions to them 
in this volume have, of necessity, been meagre, I was 
so convinced of the injustice done the sex by the let- 
ter-writers alluded to, that I instituted an inquiry into 
the circumstances attending some of the cases occur- 
ring, fix that had taken place, with the following 
result. 

One of the slandered young ladies is a Miss Mary 
Partrige, a sister to the lamented George Partrige, 
who was killed at the battle of Osawattomie. During 
the most dangerous times of that gloomy period of 
Kansas history, she rode as a scout, and not unfre- 
quently took a turn at standing guard at nights, so 
that her wearied-out brothers miojht have some rest. 



290 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty -Eight. 

Her jDarents are old and needy, having been plundered 
of their j^roperty by roving guerrilla parties, and re- 
duced to poverty. In common with their daughter, 
they are members of church, and are noble specimens 
of the old Puritan character. They would scorn to 
commit an immoral, or dishonest action. They have 
living in the family an orphan girl, who has been an 
inmate of the household from her infancy. Upon Miss 
Partrige has mainly devolved the care and education 
of this child ; and on the strength of the existing rela- 
tionship she preempted her land. Her father having been 
imj)Overished by the ruffians of the border, she borrow- 
ed money of a friend to pay for the property, and is 
now (or was) working in Lawrence at day's w^orks, to 
earn sufficient to return the borrowed money, so she 
and her parents may have a home to live in during 
their old age. 

Another of these injured young ladies is a Miss 
Sarah Gr. Wattles, the daughter of a gentleman for 
some time the junior editor of the Herald of Freedom, 
Miss Wattles, seeing that her father's means were ex- 
hausted by his generosity to the sufferers by the various 
Missourian invasions, determined, with the self-reli- 
ance of a true woman, to help herself She according- 
ly took her sister and an orphan boy living in the 
family, and went from Lawrence to Linn Co.. In the 
neighborhood of Moneka she selected a claim which 



Peace Established. 291 



she immediately settled on and improved. Assisted 
by some friends she succeeded in pa}ing for the land, 
and is now living on it with her father, in a comfortable 
house, surrounded by fine crops of corn, potatoes, &c. 

While living in this manner, she wrote a letter in 
reply to an urgent request of her relations in the east, 
to leave Kansas and return to a safe and quiet home. 
As the letter was published at the time in the Herald 
of Freedom^ it will be no breach of confidence to pre- 
sent an extract of the same to the reader. She said : 

" I like to live here very much; I would not be at 
all willing to make our home anywhere else. As 
to whether I like it as well as in Newark, the two 
places are so utterly dissimilar in every respect, that I 
do not know how to compare them. The things for 
which I like Newark are entirely wanting here. The 
comfort, the elegance, the refinement and educational 
advantages are things we hope and work for, patiently 
and earnestly. And ! how I long for peace, that 
we may the sooner have security and rest ; and I long 
for schools. But what I love Kansas for is her great 
beauty and fertility^ and for her sufferings. The very 
hardships I have borne here, and the political strife, 
and the great wrongs inflicted on us, and the unjust 
and savage war which we have passed through, have 
all made me love Kansas as I love no other place on 
earth." 



292 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

I might cite'other instances scarcely less striking, 
but I feel that enough has already been written in the 
preceding pages of this work, to convince the reader 
that the women of Kansas have borne their full share 
in the hardships and sufferings of the settlers of that 
distracted land, and are entitled to commensurate 
honor from the heart of every sympathizer in the wel- 
fare of Kansas throughout Christendom. 

A few weeks after the election I paid a visit to Capt. 
Montgomery. I expected to shortly leave that portion 
of the Territory, and I went to pay my parting re- 
spects to the man to whom Kansas owed such a debt 
of gratitude, and for whom I entertained so high an 
esteem. The day selected for my visit being oppres- 
sively warm, I ambled leisurely along, keeping as 
much as possible in the shade of the timber of Little 
Sugar, until I arrived at his residence. As much has 
been said by sundry correspondents from Kansas rela- 
tive to the immoral character of Montgomery, and his 
carrying on a guerrilla warfare to enrich himself and 
followers, I will give a brief but truthful description 
of his residence. 

Imagine to yourself, reader, a rude log building, 
not exceeding ten by twelve in dimension, situated on 
a gentle elevation ; the height of the structure not 
over eight feet, and containing but one door and win- 
dow ; the whole covered with a rough shed roof of 



Peace Estahlislied. 293 

split strips of oak, and you will have a tolerable fair 
idea of the abode where, according to the testimony of 
these correspondents, is stored ill-gotten wealth be- 
yond computation. 

! shame, shame on the whole breed of scribes and 
doughty knights of the quill, who week after week 
and month after month, in their one-sided versions of 
what they were willfully ignorant, maligned and villi- 
fied the character of a man greatly their superior in 
all the attributes of manhood. I do not wish to con- 
vey the impression that I deem Montgomery perfect in 
all respects. He has his faults, as who has not, but they 
are faults of the head not of the heart; and there 
breathes not to-day upon the soil of Kansas a purer 
or truer ]3atriot than James Montgomery. The wealth 
of the Califomias could not seduce him from his al- 
legiance to the principles of freedom, nor all the sol- 
diery of the federal Union cow or intimidate him from 
proffering his services to liberty when in need of his 
strong arm to maintain her just rights. 
^ Aye, and despite the sneers and libels oi salaried cor- 
respondents, who from mercenary motives have sought to 
ignore and misrepresent his true position, at home and 
amid the scene of his labors, the patriot has his reward. 
There, whatever the world may enjoy as its opinion, 
and whatever may live in future histories of Kansas, 
his services are properly appreciated, and go where 



294 Kansas in EigMeen Fifty-Eiglit. 

you may among the free-sqiiatters of Soutliern Kansas, 
you will find in conversation on tlie eventful scenes 
through which the settlers have passed, that a man 
had better liold Ms peace than say aught derogatory 
to the character of James Montgomery. 

I found the object of my quest at home ; he having 
been suffering for several days from an attack of fever. 
He was sitting up, however, engaged in looking over 
the mail, which one of his boys had just brought him 
from the office. His wife, a tall, fine-looking woman, 
w^as getting dinner, and his only child of any size, a girl 
of some fourteen years, was looking over her father's 
shoulder, enjoying the news with him. Dinner was 
soon announced, and after a short prayer by the head 
of the household, we commenced partaking of the 
simple food before us. After dinner he showed me a 
number of presents given him w4iile on a recent visit at 
Lawrence. Amono^ them was a volume of Mrs. Eobin- 
son's " History of Kansas," with the presentation 
written on the fly-leaf by the hand of the fair author 
herself. 

The conversation during my brief stay was highly 
interesting, causing time to slip unheeded ; but ever 
and anon as my eyes glanced around the small, small 
room and noted its few simple contents, I sighed for 
the power to invoke the presence of the olden defamers 
of Montgomery to see what I saw, and behold what I 



Peace Estahlished. 295 



beheld in his rude squatter home, the remembrance of 
which I shall bear with me through life evermore. 

After remaining as long as I could consistently with 
other engagements, I bade him and family a regretful 
adieu and took my departure. That the blessings of 
that Providence he reveres may attend his footsteps 
to the close of life, and preserve the liberty of the land 
he fought to free, is the fervent prayer of the writer. 

The evening of the same day I was called upon to 
sever another link in the chain of association, that had 
endeared Kansas to me, to a far greater degree than I 
was aware before I came to sunder one by one the 
bonds of connection with her soil. It was parting with 
my pony — with poor Prince. I had sold him to a set- 
tler who had taken a fancy to him, having no further 
use for him, and the new owner had come that evenino* 
to bear away my treasure. He was of Indian breed, 
and so teachable that although I had possessed him 
but a few months, I had succeeded in learning him 
almost as many diverting performances as ever ac- 
quired by a showman's or circus-rider's pony. He 
was greatly attached to me, and would come at my 
call or whistle, from the best of pasture ; follow me 
about like a dog wherever I wanted him to ; lay down 
at my bidding, etc. I could not but reciprocate in a 
measure his fondness for me, and will the reader smile 
when I assure him that not the least 0/ my trials in 



296 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty- Eight. 

leaving Southern Kansas, was parting with poor 
Prince, who had been my trusty companion in many 
a wild and dangerous journey and exploration. But 
the separation was inevitable, and I walked away to 
avoid seeing the stranger put the bit between the 
teeth of the unwilling mouth that always opened so 
willingly for me, and the saddle upon the back that 
always bent to receive its burthen. 



Closing Remarks. 297 



CHAPTEB XVIII. 

CLOSING REMARKS. 

" Henceforth to the sunset, 

Unchecked on her way, 
Shall liberty follow 

The march of the day." — Whittier. 

Deeming that a brief description of the soil, climate, 
etc., of Kansas will be acceptable to those of my read- 
ers who meditate emigrating thither, I will devote a 
few pages to that purpose. 

Kansas is a rolling, prairie country. It therefore 
differs from much of the Western land, which is flat 
and monotonous. The timber is chiefly confined to 
the borders of the creeks and rivers, although in some 
portions of the Territory it covers the mounds and 
higher elevations of the country. These streams are 
so numerous, especially in the Southern part of the 
Territory, that the prairies are rarely more than four 
or five miles in width. The chief varieties of timber 
are walnut, oak, sycamore, hickoiy, cottonwood, ma- 
ple, etc. 



298 Eanms in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

The soil is rich and deep ; a dark loam several feet 
deep, on a porous subsoil. The soil rests on a lime- 
stone basis, underlying seemingly the whole Territo- 
ry. It is mountain limestone ; the highest rock 
known to geologists; and will always be a cheap and 
inexhaustible fertilizer of the soil. A coarse, gray, 
carboniferous strata is nearest the surface, but it is 
only on the crests of the hills and prairie promontories 
that this dips out, and it therefore encumbers but lit- 
tle ground. Beneath this strata lies a blue or red 
sandstone, easily worked, and under it a finer quality 
of limestone. 

In many parts of the Territory, coal, of greater value 
to the settlers than its rumored mines of Gold, has 
been discovered in abundance. It is chiefly found 
along the banks of the creeks and rivers, and is already 
used for many purposes by the inhabitants. Lead 
has also been found. Most of the creeks and ravine 
have stone bottoms, and the country to a great extent 
is destitute of these horrible sloughs which are so 
common throughout the West, and which at certain sea- 
sons of the year are almost impassable to the traveler. 
But little expense is required to make roads that will 
be good throughout the year, as the soil is of such a 
formation that even after a heavy storm a few hour's 
sun dries its surface. 

The climate in its freneral features resembles that 



Closing Bemarhs. 299 

of Southern Illinois and Indiana, only it is dryer and 
more salubrious. The winters are mild ; hut little 
snow fallsj and work cattle are frequently turned loose 
by the settlers in the fall of the year, to subsist on the 
prairies throughout the winter. The most serious in- 
convenience is the high winds, which are characteristic 
of the country. There is always a breeze ; often a high 
wind, as the air is wafted fresh from the mountains, 
meeting with no obstructions on the plains. The fre- 
quency of hills, however, impairs its force after reach- 
ing the Territory, and affords plenty of shelter. 

The scenery is particularly pleasing. Generally 
speaking, throughout the West there is a sameness of 
landscape, but in Kansas the scenery is ever varying. 
Mound, valley, stream and woodland all combine to 
give it a charm, and it only needs the hand of art to 
make it one of the most substantially beautiful coun- 
tries in the world. Its sky is also one of the clearest 
and loveliest that over-arches the earth. I do not 
think that Italy itself can possess a more gorgeous 
heaven than Kansas. Some of its cloud and sunset 
views are grand beyond words, and I have gazed on 
them at times until my whole soul has been filled with 
the emotions awakened by their loveliness. The nat- 
ural loveliness of Kansas is remarked by almost all 
who visit it, who have any eye for the beauties of na- 
ture. Kev. Henry Pierpont, the venerable poet, in a 



300 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eiglit. 

visit to the Territory, remarked that he had traveled 
all over the United States, and visited the ancient 
seats of empire in the old world — sunny Italy, Greece, 
the middle and northern countries of Europe, etc., — 
but in all his journeyings his eyes had never rested on 
such loveliness as he was allowed to look upon in 
Kansas. 

Most vegetables indigenous to the New England and 
Middle States do well, when cultivated, in Kansas. It 
must in time become a great fruit country as both soil 
and climate are particularly adapted to its culture. Con- 
siderable attention is already paid to the subject, and 
there are a number of fine nurseries in various parts 
of the Territory. For grazing purposes it is unsur- 
passed. The natural prairie grass greatly resembles 
Eastern meadow grass, but it is of a better quality, 
and from it all the hay of the country is made. The 
staple productions of the North, wheat, corn, oats, 
&c., are all cultivated with success. Corn, especial- 
ly, produces a luxuriant yield. 

Without a doubt Kansas presents in many respects 
decided advantages over other portions of the West. 
In all the Western States land of a good quality, in 
good locations, is held at high prices, but in Kansas 
it is, as yet, cheap, while its many natural advantages 
j)f soil, climate, etc., etc., must inevitably make it 
increase in value rapidly. There wiU doubtless be a 



Closing Bemarhs. 301 

home market in Kansas for years to come, as each 
year's immigration is sufficient to consume the surplus 
produce of the settlers. Every township six miles 
square has two sections of land which government has 
set apart for school purposes, and which, if properly 
managed and not sold until land becomes valuable, 
will produce a School Fund of from $10,000 to $15,- 
000 for each township. The annual income of this 
ought to render the school facilities equal to those of 
any State in the Union. 

As the most desirable tracts are rapidly being taken 
up, those intending to seek homes in Kansas will do 
well to lose as little time as possible in carrying their 
resolutions into effect. The progress of the West is 
so rapid that few Eastern people have a correct con- 
ception of it. The exultant "Eureka" may spring 
to the lips of the self-exiled wanderer from the East 
as he crosses the threshold of the West, but it dies 
away unuttered when he becomes familiar with it, 
and compares its varied improvements with the time 
in which they were accomplished, for then his mind is 
filled with emotions of wonder at finding the West so 
different from what he had imagined. The rich lux- 
uriant prairies — fresh as when they came from the 
plastic hand of the Creator — are like what he had con- 
ceived ; so are tlie forests, rivers, mounds, etc., but 
the improvements made by the pioneers far surpass 



302 Kansas in Eighteen Fifty-Eight. 

his expectations. As he surveys the evidences of civ- 
ihzation around him, and reflects that all ^has heen 
accomplished within a few years, he is lost in amaze- 
ment. It is only after he has familiarized himself 
with frontier life, and been an eye-witness to its ra23id 
changes, that his astonishment ceases to exist. 

Kansas, so far from being an exception to the above 
generalism, is a striking exemplification of its truth- 
fulness. Its past growth has been unprecedented in 
Territorial history, and its future prospects were never 
more promising than at the present period. Planting 
the principles they revere, on the soil of their adoption, 
and saying to the Southern Sanhedrim " thus far 
shalt thou go, and no farther " from the rugged hills 
of New England, the sterile valleys of the Middle 
States, and the broad prairies of the West, the stal- 
wart sons of freedom there commingle, eventually to 
make Kansas the "bright, particular star" in the 
glorious galaxy of our National Union, and the home 
of a free and happy posterity. 



NOTES, 



(1)— Page 18. 
A Mexican term, signifying a number of wagons forming an en- 
campment. 

(2)— Page 56. 
The squad was a portion of Capt. Hamilton's guerrilla company, 
and was hastening from the Territory after the commission of the 
Marais des Cygnes massacre. 

(3)— Page 66. 
The speech quoted rests on the authority of one of Cap.t Hamilton's 
own men, by the name of Mattock, who was some time after its de- 
livery captured and lodged in jail at Paris, Linn Co., Kansas, where 
he made a full confession of every thing relating to the tragedy. 

(4)— Page 92. 
An old resident of the Territory, by the name of Eeese. 

(5)— Page 102. 
In recording this story and the one that precedes it, I have en- 
deavored to give the language of the narrators as fully as copious 
notes taken at the time would enable me to do. The name of 
the hero of the last narrative was Dean. I frequently saw him 
afterwards, and have every reason to believe his sad narrative 
truthful. 

(6)— Page 115. 
The name of the family was Lamb. Before I left the Territory 
his brothers returned. 



304 Notes. 



(7)— Page 231. 
I have not the letter in question by me, but believo I quote him 
correctly. 

(8)— Page 232. 
The speech of Gov. Denver and those that follow, are taken from 
notes made during their delivery. 



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OR. 

^Chemistry Applied to Agriculture, 



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II before, is a benefactor to mankind. This is the work of agricultural 
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sj manures and compost most suitable to prevent exhaustion of different 
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saved which is now lost by bad management. In short, the wealth of 

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) Here will be found about 500 ix'd])fs, embracing the very best directions for ) 

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C Safe Directions for the Management of Children ; and a large variety of plain 
common sense Recipes on Cookery, &c., &c., &c. 



a?-A.BXiE OJ^ C01^TTEJSITS. 



PART I. 

Ague : Air : Asiatic Cholera : Astlima, Cure of Billious Cholic ; Billious Complaints : Bite of 
Poisonous Creatures : Bleeding at the Lungs, Stomach, and from the No.se : Bloody Urine : 
Boils : Bowel Complaints in Children : Burn or Scald : Burns : Cancer : Callus : Catarrh : Cer- 
tain Cure for a Cold : Chilblain : Cholera Morbus : Consumption, No. 1 : Consumptive Cough : 
invulsiou Fits : Corns : Costivenessin Children : Coughs and Colds in Chil- 



Continued Fever : Convulsion Fits : Corns : Costivenessin Children : Coughs and Colds in Chil- ^ 
dren : Cough : Cough, Recipe for : Courses, painful : Cow-pox : Cramp in the Stomach : Croup, C 
Xo. 1 : Croup, No. 2 : Cutting Teeth: Deafness : Delirium Tremens : Diabetes : Diarrhoea': ( 
Distress after Eating : Dropsy : Dropsy of the Head : Drowning, recovery from : Dysentery ; ? 
Dyspepsia : Earache, No. 1 : Earache, No. 2 : Elecampaign for a Cough : Epeleptic Fits ; Eyes, 
Inflammation of : Eyes, Sore and Weak : Eyes, Weeping : Falling of the Bowels in Children : 
Felon in the Eye : Felon on the Hand : Female Obstructions : Fever and Ague : Fever Sore : 
Fits or Convulsions in Children : Flaxseed Tea : Fluor Albus : Food for Children : Food for In- 
fants brought up by hand : Frost Bite : Gleets : Good Remedy for Fits : Gout : Gravel or Stone 
No. 1 : Gi'avel or Stone No. 2 : Pleadache, Sick : Hiccough : Hoarseness : Humors, No. 1 : 
Humors, No. 2 : Hysterics ; Inflammatory Fever : Itch ; Jaundice : Joints. Stiffened : Keeping 
Children clean : King's Evil : Lame Feet : Liver Complaint, No. 1 : Lock Jaw : Measles : Medi- 
cine for Children : Menstrual Discharges : Mortification : Mumps : Nervous Affections : Nip- 
( pies, Sore : Numb Palsey : Old and Inveterate Sores : Old Sores, to Cure : Pains : Painter's 
/ Cholic : Palpitation of the Heart : Pectoral Syrup for Coughs : Piles : Piles, Bleeding : Phthis- 
) ic : Pimples : Poisons, taking, Tartar Emetic : Poisons, Saltpetre, Laudanum. Lunar Caustic, 
) Corros. Sublimate : Polypus : Raising Blood : Rattlesnake Bite : Rattles in Children : Recipes 
\ for Rheumatism : Remedy for Dropsy in the Head : Rheumatic Plaster : Rickets, Symptoms 
V of: Rickets, Remedy for. Ring Worms: Rupture: Salt Rheum: Scarlet Fever: .'^crofula, Humor: 
^ Scrofula: Scrofula, Remedy for : Scurvey ; Sleep, to procure it ; Smallpox: Sore Throat, Pu- 
) trid : Sore Legs : Sore Lips : Spine Complaints : Sprains ; St. Anthony's Fire : Stomach Sick- 
^ ness ; Strengthening Plaster ; Strained Stomach : St. Vitus' Dance : Sweat : Swellings, to 
") reduce them ; Swellings, No. 2 ; Tape Worm ; Teething and Diarrhoea in Children ; lie Dolo- 



[Co-tUinued on iiexi fxiffe. 



m _.^^.,^^ ^ . — ^. ^ .^ -.. - . . m 



' INDISPENSABLE COMPANION —CmUnts Cwtinued. *-^ 

reaux ; Toothache, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 ; Treatment of i lildren ; Typhus Fever ; Ulcer ; t-aer ( 

Inward ; Universal Cure all ; Urinary Discharges, too €r i ; Urinary Obstructions ; Varioloid ; ^ 

Volatile Liniment : Vomiting prevented ; Warts, Na. "^ Warts, No. 2 ; Weak Eyes;^^eak ( 

Limbs ; Weak Sto.mach •, Wen ; White Mixture for ? i ough, No. 1, No. 2 ; Whites ; ^\hlte , 

SweilLng ; Whooping Cough, No. 1 ; Whooping Cough, Ur 2 ; Windy Stomach ; Worms. \ 

PART II, I 

Cakes, Bbraj>, Yeast, b J. ( 

Apple Snow : Baker's Ginger Bread : Best Cup Cake : Bre kfast Butter Cakes : Brown or Dys- \ 

pepsia Bread : Buckwheat Cakes : Butter Cakes for Tea : ( jike without Eggs : Common Plum <j 

Cake : Composition Cake : Cream Cup Cake : Cream Cake • C earn Cake, No. 2 : Cake, Rich small : C 

Dyspepsia Cake : Dough Nuts : Dyspepsia Bread : Ginger J /ead : Ginger Nuts : Ginger Snaps : / 

Good Family Cake : Green Corn Cake : Hard Wafers : Kq8< ^ke ; Icing for Cakes ; Indian Cakes ; ^ 

Indian Corn Cakes ; Indian Griddle Cakes ; Jelly C ke - "lu nbles ; Lemon Cake ; Light Cake to . 

be Baked in Cups; Loaf Cake ; Lemon Pie; Meu^u.e '"'al *; Molasses Dough Cake; Muffins; S 

New York Cup Cake ; Plain Indian Cakes ; Plum Cake ; .'ound Cake ; P>ich Jumbles ; Rolls ; Q 

Rye and Indian Bread; Rice Waffles ; Seed Cakes ; fc^avo'- Cakes ; Sugar Ginger Bread ; Sym- C 

bals ; Tea Cake, No. 1 ; Yeast — to make it good ; do. Milk , do. of Cream Tartar and Saleratus. (| 

PiE3, Preserves, Jellies, Sauce, &o. ^ 

Apple Sauce ; Arrow Root Custard ; Barberries, to Preserve ; Black Currant Jelly ; Blanc- / 

Mange ; Calf's Foot Jelly ; Conserve Roses ; Currant Jelly ; Curries : Curry Powder ; Damsons, ) 

to Preserve ; Family Mince Pie ; Peach Jam ; Pumpkin Pie ; Raspberry Jam ; Rice Jelly ; \ 

Squash Pie ; Strawberry Jam ; Spruce Beer ; Tomato Catsup ; Tomato Sauce. \ 

Puddings. 
S Arrow Root Pudding ; Boiled Indian Pudding ; Bird's Nest Pudding ; Christmas Plum Pud- 
\ ding; Damson Pudding ; Indian Fruit Pudding ; Orange Pudding ; Plum Pudding ; Rice Pud - 
\ ding. Baked or Boiled ; Rich Apple Pudding ; Sago Pudding ; Sauce for Pudding ; Tapioca Pud- 
( ding 

; Mkat, Fish, Gravies, &c. 

) Boiled Beef: Beef Balls ,■ Beef, Cold Tenderloin ; Beef, Cold Steaks, to warm ; Beef, Minced ; 

) Beef Steaks Broiled ; Boiled Ham ; Boiled Salmon; Bread Sauce ; Broiled Cod ; Broiled Ham ; r 

S Broiled Salmon ; Broiled Salmon, Dried ; Cabbage Soup ; Caper Sauce ; Chicken, good way to ^ 

( prepare ; Chicken Fie ; Chicken Pot Pie ; Chicken Salad ; Chicken Soup ; Chicken Soup, No. / 

k 2 ; Chowder, how to make ; Codfish, salt, Stewed ; Codfish, Salt ; Cod, or other Fish, to Fry ; ) 

r Codlish Cakes ; Cold Boiled Cod, to make a dish-, Cold Slaw : Dried Codfish ; Dried Cod, a \ 

) small dish ; Dried Salmon ; Egg Sauce ; Fried Cod ; Fresh Mackerel Soused : Fried Sausages ; ( 

^ Fried Shad ; Haddock ; Lobster Soup ; Mackerel, Salt ; Melted Butter ; Minced Meat ; Mock ( 

S Turtle Soup ; Mutton Broth ; Mutton, to boil Leg of ; Mutton Chops ; Mutton, to stew shoul- ^ 

S der of ; Oyster Mouth Soup ; Oysters, fo Fry ; Oyster Sauce ; Parsley and Butter ; Pig, to . 
( Roast , Pork Steak; Roast Pork ; Sandwiches ; Sausage Meat ; Sausages ; Sweet Bread, Liver, 

r and Heart ; Salmon ; Salmon to Broil ; Savoy Soup ; Shad, to broil ; Shad r Shell Fish ; Spare ^ 

^ Rib : Stewed Lobster : Stewed Oysters • Stock for Gravy Soup or soup : Turtle Soup : Tripe ; I 

; White Sauce for Boiled FowL ( 

) Vegetables, &n. ( 

( Cabbage : Coffee, how to Make : Green Peas : Mashed Potatoes ; Onions ; Potatoes, to Boil; \ 

Turnips. ( 

PART III. \ 

illSCELLA^'EOCS. ( 

Apples, Preserved ; Blacking, to make ; Britannia Ware, to Clean ; Cucumbers, to Pickle ; S 

Ice Cream ; Keep out Red Ants ; Oysters, to Pickle ; Take Ink from Floors ; Washing Recipe, ^ 

celebrated. ( 

Ladies' Toilette Table. 

Dress ; Evening Dresses ; Flounces ; High-necked Dresses ; Lotion for Promoting the 
Growth of the Hair, and Preventing it from turning Grey ; Style of Bonnet ; Short Cloak ; 
to prevent Loosening of the Hair : to Cure Ringworm. 

The way to 2;et a copy of the LADIES' INDISPENSABLE COMPANION, 
»s to send us 50 cents in postage stamps, and we will send you a copy ])y 
return of mail, postage paid, Address, 

H. DAYTON, Publisher, 

107 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK, 



^ 



^ BOOK. JPOU ET^EUT F^MILIT, 

AiTi iEVEILEi, 



AND 



UISriVERSA.L aUIDE, 

8vo., Paper, Price 50 cents. 

ITiis Book makes known some of the most remarkable discoveries in Household 
Atfiirs Many of these Recipes have never before been pubhshed, and actuaUy 
t.t from $20 to S50 each ; and we believe that the Contents be ow will strong- 
y commend the Work to the Patronage (5f every Family m the land. Heremll 
i,e found ample information upon a variety of important subjects, from the best 

suthoritieb. 

— -*®«»- ■ 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Recipe for the Colors used ; t,> make a P?wder by .^^^^^.y^yj^g.'^emOYing Paint, Grease- 

the Copy of a Prmt ; to/r«P^^« / T^ ^sparent^^^^^^^^ Prepare^ Gun Cotton ; to Remove 

fnfallible Cure for Cancer. 

take Stains out of Mahogaiiy ; to Restore Colors titenoai D/Aciu., g, ^ y ;, ,„ cieao 

tute ; to Restore Rusty Italian Crape ; ^o C^ean Ph.^s^and P^ P at^ ^^^^ ^^.^^ 

and Mattresses ; to Remove Paint and Putty from \\mdowi,i.vss^ Woolen Goods, and Floors , 
Cotton Goods aAd Colored Silks ; to Extract Grease ^ ^^^^^^J^^l^^^.^^;^^ ; to Ex' 

to Remove Black Stains on Scarlet Woolen Goods ' 1° ^,^™f"p®-n 'f. "i Dveins DruRS ; Causes for 
tract Ink from Floors ; on tbei^ftureot Colors ; Names of Prmcipal l^^^e^^^^^ ^g^^,^ ^^ 
the Holding of Colors ; Lime Water ; of Blue, Black , to make ^'?emic is , ^^^^ ^ 

ing Silks in the Small or i^^lse Dje ; \-\'^^^^^\^V;^f, ^'Stl^^^^^^^ to Make Half Vio'let 

very pretty Hair Brown • for Slate-colored Silks ^oi a bton. for a Common Shawl ; for Dyeing 
or l.ilac ; to Dye a Shawl Crimson ; to make Fle.h Colors ,^or ^^^ ^^^^^^ . ^^ 

Straw and Chip Bonnets ; for Dyeing Silk Stockings P^ack on uye ^^^ ^^ ^^.^^ 

take Stain of Dye from Hands ; for BleaJ'"? ^->t^n 'p^/Jwoolen StuSs Black ; A Pretty Red 
Green : for a Full Yellow ; to Dye a Pebsse Black , to j^'J« ^;0" ^ , f.^ ^^ ^ Dark Green ; Cirec- 
Brown very bright, the Dye costing ^ut sixpence ^for_Il>eingBla^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ . ^^ 

tions for Washing Calicoes ; for Cleaning Silk Gooas , lor wasu s 
WasWng Woolens ; to Clean Woolen and Silk Shawls. 

P.KT lY.^Lnportant In.tructi^. to Young LaM. and |;--^^,?f f.^^ s%S2s,''tS'; 
CT.anZin.ss, c£-c.-The Dress Evening Dresses; the Ha^ 

Short Cloaks, Dressing the Hair ; Caps, Pur ty of ^^1^^^ J ^^^PPJ^^ ^ T.-ude in all Things. 
*ad Dresa of Gentlemen ; Choica of a Wife , How to ileal a w ii , .^,^^.^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^ 

^ m 



) 



■* ARTS REVK^LED.—Q)ntefUs Goniinu^. * 

Part V. — Needlework for Jomig Ladies, embracing In.struct.ujns in Embroidery on Muslin^ SiXk 
Velvet, die. — Embroidery with Floss, three-corded Silk, Chenille, Worsted. &c. ; Raised Embroid- 
ery ; Stitches in Embroidery on Muslin and Lace Work ; Double Biittou hole Stitch ; Glover'g 
Stitch, Eyelet Holes; Embroidery, Feather Stitch; Formation of Bars; Buttonhole Stitch, 
Darning : Eyelet holes in Lace-work ; Interior Stitch, Chain Stitch ; Veining Ojien Hem ; Pearl 
ing. Lines ; Straight Open Hem ; Half Herring bone Stitch ; Tambour Siilch. Spots on Net ; Em 
broidery on MusHn ; Embroidery in Gold Thread; Instructions in Lace work ; Embroider/ for 
Insertion ; Things to be Kemembered. 

Part VI. — Rules of Polite7iess for Ladies and Gentlemen. — Rules of Politeness ; Models of Invita' 
tion Cards ; How to Addre.ss a Lady ; Language of the Finger Ring ; Rules of Conversation 
Young People's Primary Instruction in the Art of Drawing. 

Part VU. — Miscellaneous Recipes. — To.keep the Hair from falling off; Oil for' the Hair, to make 

} it Curl ; to Cure Freckles, Shaving Soap ; Tincture for Diseased Gums ; Red Boille Wax ; White- 

) wash that will not Rub otf ; to make Cloth wind and rain proof ; Feathers. Icy Steps ; to Pohsb 

( Stoves, Black Ball ; Inflamed Eyes ; to Blacken the Eyelashes ; to Perlurae (.:iothes ; Certain Cur« 

f for Eruptions, Pimples, &c. ; Cheap, white House Paint ; Confectionery ; Ornamental Frosting ; 

) to Clarify Sugar for Candies ; Fine Peppermint Lozenges ; Icing for Cakes ; Saffron Lozenges : 

) Strawberry Ice Cream. 

Part VIH. — The Doctoral Hovie. — New Cure for Consumption, Scrofula, Rickets, Diarrhsea, &c. ; 
Cure for a Nail Run into the Foot ; Fever and Ague ; Cure for the Toothache ; A very Strength-, 
eniug Drink ; Cure for Rheumatism ; Very Valuable Remedy for Rlieumatism ; Cure for llydro-i 
pliubia ; Tonic Bitters, Bowel Complaints ; Inflammation of the Bowels ; Common Canker, Gravel; 
Prevention of Bilious Fever ; Consumption , Hypochondria or Hysteric Passion ; Rabes, or Hy- 
drophobia-, Incubus, or Nightmare ; Cough Compound, Canker Cure ; Piles, Dysentery ; Pain ii»* 
the Breast or Side; Convulsion Fits, Inward Ulcers; Sore Eyes, Numb Palsy; Flying Rheuma 
lisni ; Rheumatic Oil, Soothing Lotion ; Dysentery Specific, particularly for Bloody Dysentery ; 
Invalid Coidial ; Balm of Life, Headache Drops; for Clean.>ing and Purifying the Blood; for 
Strengtheniiig and Invigorating iJip Nerves ; A Shrunk iSiuew or Stiff Joint; Cancer of the 
Breast ; Remedy for Cancer. < 

Part IX.— J/^'?i';a? Qualities of Roots and Herbs. — Black Alder t Alum Root — Angelica: Thonr 
Apple ; Arrow-Root — HvensRoot: A.Sarum, or Swamp Asarabacca : Agiimony : Beech Drops: 
Bearberry ; Five Fingers, or Cinquefoil : Crawley, or Fever Rooi : Conitrey, Feather-few : Black-^ 
berry : Dandelion— w ild Turnip . Blood Root — Thoroughwort : Indian Tobacco: Wlntergreen ; 
Burdock — Pleun.sy Koot : Queen of the Meadow: Cicuta, or Poison Hemlock : Broad Leaveij 
Laurel • Sweet Flag, Ro.se Willow : Dogwood, Dwarf Elder : American Gentian: Sampson Snake- 
root: Foxglove. Tobacco: Mustard. Mallows: Oak Bark, Deadly Nightshade : American Ipecac, 
or Imliau I'hysic . Camomile ; Khubarb Root : Mandrake, or May Apple : Colt's Foot, Bitter-:, 
sweet : I'okeweed : Shumach. orShoemake : Slippery Elm, Poplar : Sanicle, Black Snake rootr* 
Skunk Cabba e : Tansy. Wormwood, ilor.se Radish : King's Evil Weed: Oak of Jeru.salem, o 
Worm.seed : Americau".-!enna . Yellow Duck, Gravel Weed Sarsa[jarilla, Beth Root : Tag Alder 
Langworth, Ladies' Slip t«er Raitle-unke's Plantain, Blue Flag: Sassafras, River Willow:" 
Milkweed : Peach Tree, Valerian Butternut Tree, Ground Pine : Blue Kohosh : White Poppy: 
Peppermint, ' harcoal of Wood : Ergot, Smut Rye, or Spurred Rye : Hops ; Sweet Fern : Mea- 
dow Saffron : Witch Hazel Prickly Ash : Directions for Collecting and Preserving Vegetables : 
Roots, Seeds and Fruits : Leaves and Flowers. 

Part X. — Z>i.Nea.ses "/ Children. — Treatment of Infant? ; Infant's Syrup ; Cholera Infantum, 
Kiccup.s ; Griping and Ratuleucy ; the Thrush, liiaTrh.£:i ; Cutaneous Eruptions ; Failing dowi» 
of the Fundament ; Dentition or Cutting I'eeih ; ("(-iivulsions. the Rickets ; Inward Fits ; Distor- 
tion of the Spiue ; Dnip^y on iiie Sraiu, or Hydrocephalus, Cau.ses, Treatment: Inflamma- 
tion of the Trachea, Hives. Rattle.^, or Croup; Croup, Syin|)toms, Gau.ses, Treatment: th«' 
Sleep of Infants : the Yellow Gum : Aputhoe or Thrush, Acidities : Galling and Excoriation ; 
Vomiting. 

Part XII. — Accidents or Emenjcncie.'' —How to be Prepared for Accidents and Emergencies ; Re- 
medies for Poisons ; for Corrosive .^utliinate ; Sugar of Lead ; for Opium, Laudanum, Hemlock, 
and other Vegetable Poisons ; for Tar lar Eme>io ; Bite of a Rattlesnake ; for Oil of Vitriol, Tar- 
taric or Prussic Acid, or any other Aciil ; for Potash or other Alkalies ; for Arsenic, Drownea 
Persons ; Cautions in Visiting Sick Rooms ; Security against Lightning ; The Tongue ; to make; 
Leeches Take Hold; Castor-Oil made i^alatable ; Poultices ; to Purify the Atmosphere of a Sick I 
Room ; Importance of Well-Ventilated Apartments ; Three Rules for Preserving Good Health 
Consumption ; Codfi.sh Liver Oil for Consumption ; Rules for Diet and Digestion ; General RuleB 
for Preserving Life and Health ; Sir R. Philip's Rules ; Dr Boerhaave's Rules. 

The waj' to get a copy of .VllTS REVEALED, is to send us 50 cents Id 
postcige stamps, and we will semi you a copv by return of mail, postage paid. 

Address, H. BAYTQ-^^^ Publisher, 

« 107 NASSAU-ST., N. Y. 

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